The United States government has affirmed that all the programmes it is involved in within Kenya are for the good of Kenyans and their country.
US Ambassador to Kenya Robert Godec on Thursday sought to demystify “unfounded rumors and myths” surrounding its relations with Kenya by saying its programmes are backed by Kenyan authorities.
In the first ever public lecture, Mr Godec told a group of students and scholars at the University of Nairobi that his government does not have ulterior motives in working with local organisations.
“Let me be very clear. The United States does not fund groups to destabilise the government of Kenya. That allegation has been made, it is false. The United States does things across this country to help the people of Kenya,” he said in response to a question from the audience.
“What we do here is transparent. The programmes we do here are in line with the development objectives of the government of Kenya are fully in line with Vision 2030.
The Envoy was addressing the gathering on ‘US-Kenya Partnerships in the 21ts century,’ but the comments on the status of US-Kenya relations followed a series of questions from the gathering about his government’s real intentions for Kenya.
DENIED ALLEGATIONS
Although the US government has said before that it’s after a ‘win-win’ partnership with Kenya, a number of politicians have in the past year claimed some civil society groups are getting funds to destabilise the government. Mr Godec denied the claims although he admitted there have been challenges.
“There are always challenges and issues that come up. No relationship whether it is between two countries or between two people is going to be perfect.
But my general view is there is trust and confidence.”
“There is a lot of trust and confidence from Kenyans in the United States and I believe there is a lot of trust and confidence in the other direction as well.”
Mr Godec said the claims that the US was turning its back on Kenya are constantly betrayed by the growing number of American investors interested in investing in Kenya.
He gave the example of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation which recently approved $250 million in financing to support the development, construction, and operation of a 310 MW wind power project near Lake Turkana. The project, when complete, may be the largest wind power project in Africa.
“Our initiatives will also help attract more American companies to come to Kenya. Many U.S.
Companies are already here: IBM, Google, Coca-Cola, and GE, to name a few.
“And there are more on the way, from Americans working on producing a $10,000 car for the Kenyan market, to Domino’s Pizza, to high-tech entrepreneurs,” he said.
ATTRACT MORE INVESTORS
The American Ambassador praised Kenya’s determination to implement devolution but cautioned there might be challenges such as the ones the US faced in implementing the federal structure. This will require patience, he told the gathering.
But he argued Kenya should play its part by fighting corruption, ensuring civil liberties, bridging ethnic divisions and improving on the ease of doing business by reducing trade restrictions.
The simpler it is for companies to make investments and move their products, the more they are interested in doing business, and the more jobs, services, and growth are created.
“The bottom line is that the more Kenya does to curb and eliminate corruption, the more foreign investors will want to do business here.
“Continuing work to reduce corruption, a longstanding problem in Kenya, will also be important. More broadly, corruption threatens Kenya’s economic growth, security and the provision of government services,” said the envoy.
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