Prime Minister Raila Odinga speaks at the Harvard University during his speech. Mr. Odinga also met students from Kenya and other African countries studying in the United States.
By KEVIN J KELLEY in New York and PETER LEFTIE in Nairobi
Posted Friday, September 25 2009 at 22:30
Prime Minister Raila Odinga has said the US Government is "totally entitled" to take action it deems appropriate against Kenyan officials.
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He made the remarks on Thursday night at a Harvard University forum in response to a question about the Obama administration's threat to bar 15 Kenyan leaders from entering the US unless they stopped blocking political reforms.
At the same time, the Canadian Government announced that it would also ban people responsible for stalling reforms from travelling to the country.
Warranted
A statement by the embassy in Nairobi said although there was no list, those found responsible would have travel bans imposed on them.
Mr Odinga suggested that US officials might be warranted in making such a move "if they're convinced the people they're banning from coming to the United States are engaged in forms of impunity."
He emphasised his own commitment to ensuring accountability and due process.
"I have been a victim of impunity in the past," Mr Odinga said, noting that he had been detained three times for a total of nine years.
At the outset of his speech at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, the Prime Minister introduced a few of the Kenyan officials in attendance, including Environment minister John Michuki.
In his address, the premier characterised grand corruption such as the Goldenberg scandal as "a thing of the past."
"It will not happen in this regime," he declared.
But, in Nairobi, top government officials threatened with sanctions by the US government unless they supported the reform agenda remained defiant.