Obama loses 'favourite son' tag
2006-08-31 22:15
Nairobi - Kenya stepped up on Thursday criticism of US senator Barack Obama, accusing him of insulting the Kenyan people and trivialising their achievements during a visit to his father's homeland.
Two days after abruptly changing its tone on Obama, who had been welcomed as a returning hero, but incurred official wrath with blistering criticism of corruption and ethnic divisions, Nairobi launched a new attack on the lawmaker.
Less than 24 hours after the rising US political star left Kenya to continue an African tour, government spokesperson Alfred Mutua blasted Obama for choosing "to dwell on non-issues" in a nationally televised speech on Monday.
"Senator Obama made extremely disturbing statements on issues which it was clear, he was poorly informed, and on which he chose to lecture the government and the people on how they should manage their country."
'Senator falsely claimed his trip'
Mutua said the government would write a formal protest to the junior senator from Illinois who he suggested had falsely claimed his trip to Africa was intended to "nurture relations between the continent and the United States."
Noting the government had "spared no effort in making his stay and travel... enjoyable and fulfilling", Mutua said Obama's criticism of President Mwai Kibaki's administration was unfair, unwarranted and unjustified by facts.
He said Obama was wrong in asserting that Rwandan genocide fugitive Felicien Kabuga had bought protection in Kenya, that graft had plunged the country into "crisis" and also that dangerous tribal divisions were on the rise.
Obama's comment about Kabuga "is an insult to the people of this country", said Mutua, adding that he had "ignored" accomplishments in fighting corruption and boosting economic growth from near zero to six percent in three years.
'Trivialising Kenya's ethnic harmony'
"This cannot be achieved in a country, which senator Obama says, is experiencing a corruption crisis," he said, before slamming the lawmaker for allegedly "trivializing" Kenya's ethnic harmony and "magnifying tribalism".
A day after Obama's speech at the University of Nairobi, Mutua dismissed the lone African-American in the senate and potential Democratic Party presidential nominee as "immature" and an opposition stooge.
However, his harsh comments on Thursday marked a new escalation in animosity between the government and Obama, who left Kenya late on Wednesday after a five-day visit during which he was accorded a rock star reception.
The son of a Kenyan goat herder-turned-government economist had been greeted by cheering crowds of thousands at each of his stops, including a visit to his paternal grandmother in his late father's home village.