Market Sensitive News
11/4/2009 7:44 PM
ET
(RTTNews) -
Kenya's Attorney General Amos Wako said Thursday that he was planning to sue the United States over a travel ban imposed on him last month for allegedly opposing the implementation of political reforms in his country.
Wako on Thursday confirmed for the first time that he was the unnamed high-ranking Kenyan official who received a letter from Washington last month, informing him that he was banned from traveling to Unites States. He said at a press conference held in his office that he was seeking legal advise on suing the U.S. over the travel ban, alleging that the U.S. ban was for "defamatory reasons".
"The ban was done in bad faith and only serves the interest of US and not in support of reforms in Kenya," Wako said. "The attorney general has not in any way obstructed or stifled reforms. To target only the attorney general is therefore an American or foreign agenda."
Last month, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson had announced at a news conference in Nairobi that Washington had imposed a travel ban on an unnamed senior Kenyan official it believes was opposing the implementation of political reforms in the country.
Without naming the official, Carson said that the individual had "obstructed the reform process, failed to end the cycle of impunity and has been an obstacle in the fight against corruption". He added that the U.S. is considering similar action against three other senior government officials, without naming them.
The development came a month after Carson warned in a letter sent to 15 senior Kenyan officials that the U.S. was considering imposition of travel bans on them over failure to implement the reform agenda, despite agreeing to do so in an earlier accord that ended the country's post-poll violence in early 2008.
According to U.S. Ambassador Michael Ranneberger, the letter was sent to both sides of the coalition government, as they shared equal responsibility in implementing the proposed reforms. The Ambassador also said in September that the U.S. would "closely scrutinize any proposals for Kenya in international financial institutions," adding that the reforms "reflect the view at the highest levels of the U.S. government."
The proposed reforms were part of a UN-brokered power-sharing deal, which ended the post-poll violence that erupted in the African country after the 2007 December presidential elections. The proposed reforms include stamping out corruption, creating a permanent electoral commission and bringing the perpetrators of the post-election violence to justice.
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