Corruption, Impunity and Ambassador Ranneberger

I actually stopped eating my breakfast this morning and re-read this again to make sure I got it right:

         

“Special Programmes minister Esther Murugi yesterday rallied central Kenya voters for Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta [one of the Ocampa 6 indicted for crimes against humanity].

“She criticised those planning to oppose him in the 2012 presidential election.

“'I think they should be locked up during the next election and released after we elect the president of our choice.'”  (Emphasis added.)

I had the same reaction last week when I read that another Kenyan Minister publicly told the Anti-Corruption Commission that it shouldn’t concern itself with crimes, graft and corruption by elected officials in the past, but only in the future, on the basis it would be a waste of time and resources.  Kind of a “what’s past is past” philosophy.

Sometimes I don’t know what is more astounding, the incredible and undeniably wrong things that politicians say and do here in Kenya every day, or the fully informed public’s tolerance of those demagogues.  Corruption and impunity, Kenya’s unrelenting demons.

Our outgoing ambassador to Kenya is Michael Ranneberger, a controversial figure here, primarily for his outspokenness regarding Kenya’s political corruption and his efforts to engage Kenya’s youth (officially defined as ages 18-35) in the governance and economy of their own county.  The horror!  At one point, enraged politicians unsuccessfully tried to censure him in Parliament.

He became even more a focus of political wrath when Wiki Leaks released many of his communiqués to Washington which candidly described the same issues he publicly decries within Kenya.  His confidential email described how Kenya’s “culture of impunity” perpetuated by Kenya’s political and economic elite – that links directly to President Kibaki and PM Raila – continues to frustrate genuine reforms that could lead to yet more civil violence.  This summary, for example, seems right on:

“While the culture of impunity and the grip of the old guard political elite on the levers of state power and resources remain largely intact, hairline fractures are developing in their edifice.”

I found Amb. Ranneberger’s comments, both publicly and in his confidential summaries, insightful and refreshingly honest.  I’m also impressed by his behavior after the confidential information was released by Wiki Leaks – he fully embraced all he reported and stood behind his assessments with no apology or embarrassment that he somehow misstated or overstated the issues as he sees them.

I think Kenya will miss him, although he plans to keep close contacts.  He is currently very involved with a Kenyan woman, whom he describes openly as his “soul mate” and his “queen” (gotta love him just for that).

Last week he left this final message for Kenya:

“The agenda for change cannot and should not be imposed from the outside. . . . My message to the Kenyan people is simple and direct:  Hold leaders accountable, reject hate speech, insist on prosecution of corruption and the imprisonment of those found guilty.  Insist on full implementation of the Constitution.”

He’s one of the good guys.