US envoy Godec exits Kenya proud despite criticism

The year was 2012. As one of the largest US diplomatic outposts in Africa, the US Embassy in Nairobi was in a leadership crisis.

Former ambassador Scott Gration resigned in a huff before the release of a stinging internal audit of the embassy, leaving staff low on morale and an embassy under public scrutiny following the Inspector General’s report that found that “the ambassador has lost the respect and confidence of the staff to lead the mission…(and) has damaged the cohesion of Embassy Nairobi’s country team by underscoring differences between offices working directly with Kenya and those with regional responsibilities”.

For the Obama White House, leaving the Nairobi mission without steady hands to steer it at a critical moment when Kenya was in Somalia fighting Al-Shabaab while also preparing for March 2013 elections was going to affect its significance to US interests.

Embassy staff morale was also low after the Gration debacle.

OBAMA RE-ELECTION
On the other hand, President Barack Obama was in a tough re-election campaign, with the polls just five months away from the time Mr Gration resigned over “differences in leadership styles and priorities with Washington”.

Not wanting to get into a slugfest with the Republican-controlled Senate for the confirmation hearing of a new ambassador when his re-election was just around the corner, President Obama settled on then-US principal deputy coordinator for counter-terrorism Robert Godec, a member of the Senior Foreign Service (SFS), as charge d’affaires.

As charge d’affaires, Mr Godec’s appointment did not require Senate hearing.

With the appointment, President Obama avoided the messy confirmation hearings just months to his re-election and also got someone in the top rank of US Foreign Service to steady the ship in Nairobi.

KYLE MCCARTER
With the elections done with, Mr Godec was sworn in as an ambassador by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on January 16, 2013 after serving as charge d’affaires from August the previous year.

As Godec prepares to leave Nairobi once his successor Illinois State Senator Kyle McCarter is confirmed, his tenure is a mixed bag of results – a section of Kenyans, particularly supporters of ODM leader Raila Odinga, accuse him of sacrificing democratic ideals the US preaches for stability and being too cosy with the Jubilee administration.

“Ambassador Bob Godec focused heavily on Kenya-US bilateral relations, seen as too cosy with administration – greatly infuriating opposition side.

"Overall, he becomes the first American Ambassador in recent times to leave Nairobi with negligible or no democratic credentials,” 2013 presidential candidate James ole Kiyapi said soon after the announcement was made of McCarter’s nomination by President Donald Trump.

READ: Opposition wants US to recall Godec

ELECTION
Mr Godec was accused by opposition leaders of pressuring them to concede after the August 8, 2017 presidential election, which was eventually nullified by the Supreme Court.

Mr Godec, along with other western diplomats based in Nairobi, have denied the claim.

Also, opposition supporters accused Mr Godec and other western diplomats of turning a blind eye to the brutality by the police on opposition Nasa supporters after the disputed August 8 and October 26 presidential elections.

In a pointed criticism of the US and other western diplomats, in his speech at Chatham House in London on October 13, Mr Odinga said “many pro-democracy activists are no longer sure they have the support of the West”.

“Many are not clear if it is still the policy of the West to stand only with regimes that promote open, free and fair elections, transparency in management of public affairs, good governance and human rights,” he said, adding that the West was being seen “to be turning its back on democracy by cutting funding, endorsing regimes with dubious records and abandoning democracy activists and civil society all in the name of stability, war on terror and business”.

PROTESTS
In fact, before the recent visit to Kenya by former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the US State Department had had to come to the defence of Mr Godec after some Nasa MPs had called for his recall accusing him of “profound vendetta” against Mr Odinga.

“Mr Godec’s continued stay in the country is injurious to the long-term relationship between the people of Kenya and the US,” Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi, who is also the secretary for political affairs in ODM, had said in February. 

READ: Godec has our full support: US

Unlike some of his predecessors like Smith Hempstone, William M. Bellamy and Michael Ranneberger, the outgoing US ambassador Godec has been less outspoken and rarely gave media interviews except press conferences.

UHURU/RAILA UNITY
But amid all the criticisms, Mr Godec’s name featured prominently as one of those who, working behind-the-scenes, brought Mr Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta to what is now famously known as ‘The Handshake’.

The nomination of Mr McCarter to succeed Mr Godec to one of the US’s most significant diplomatic missions in Africa now awaits Senate confirmation.

If confirmed, Mr McCarter will become the 17th US ambassador to Kenya and 8th non-career Foreign Service Officer to hold the position since the embassy was established at the dawn of independence.

“Honour to be asked to represent Pres. Trump & USA in (a) country I have lived & served. Look forward to closer relationship benefitting both our nations. Bittersweet.

"Preparing for funeral of my father. Left legacy of honouring God, serving others & saving lives of children in Kenya,” Mr McCarter reacted to his nomination on Twitter.

His nomination came almost a year after Republican members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation delivered a letter to President Trump on May 11, 2017 recommending him for appointment, citing his “extensive history of working in Kenya” through Each One Feed One NGO, which has an office in Mukothima, Tharaka Nithi County.