vulcan
JF-Expert Member
- Apr 2, 2012
- 1,742
- 2,459
The visits to Africa by the then US President Bill Clinton in 1998 and 2000, and the bad taste in the mouths of many left here in East Africa by Bill Clinton's visit to Tanzania of the year 2000:
Bill Clinton made two high profile visits to Africa as US President i.e. in 1998 and 2000. Kenya was snubbed on both occasions because of the rocky relations that Kenya had with the West between 1990 and 2000 e.g. bilateral and multilateral donor funding was suspended to Kenya between 1990 and 2000, and even on very brief resumption in the year 2000, then Kenyan President Daniel T. arap Moi flatly declared on Moi Day 2000 (10th October 2000), that the conditions given by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the resumption of donor funding to Kenya were too stringent and could not be met by the Kenya Government e.g. wide scale staff layoffs across the Kenyan Civil Service then and across Kenyan Local Authorities/Kenyan Local Governments/Kenyan Local Councils/Kenyan Municipalities back then, so in actual fact, the suspension of bilateral and multilateral donor funding to Kenya ran from 1990 to the last day of the Moi presidency i.e. 30th December 2002.
It was actually by no accident that Mwai Kibaki and the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) trounced Uhuru Kenyatta and Moi's Kenya African National Union (KANU) at the 2002 elections e.g. the years 2000, 2001 and 2002 were particularly scary in Kenya i.e. the economy was down and businesses all across the country were shutting down big time.
A drive from Southern Kenya to Northern Kenya or from Eastern Kenya to Western Kenya was very unsettling in the years 2000, 2001 and 2002 with businesses shut and little activity at centres and towns all through the day on weekdays i.e. it was like the day of the week was Sunday permanently in the years 2000, 2001 and 2002. The capital city of Kenya, Nairobi, was also greatly affected by the Kenyan downturn and Kenyan recession of the years 2000, 2001 and 2002.
Enter President Bill Clinton to Africa for the second time in the year 2000, and in particular, enter President Bill Clinton to the United Republic of Tanzania ("Jamhuri wa Muungano ya Tanzania"), in the year 2000. Kenya and Tanzania are neighbours. It was very humiliating for Tanzania, and East Africa at large.
Cell phones had began taking root in East and Central Africa at large at the time i.e. Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), though mobile phone subscribers in East and Central Africa back then in the year 2000, were much smaller than they are today.
Anyhow, the Americans shut down the mobile phone network all across East and Central Africa for the duration of about 15 hours i.e. for the duration of about 15 hours, East and Central Africa at large, could not call or text on the different mobile phone networks.
The American Secret Service and American Security Agencies then took over Arusha International Conference Centre, Arusha, Tanzania, where President Bill Clinton was meeting Heads of State and Heads of Government of COMESA i.e. the Common Market for East and Southern Africa.
Intimidating looking gigantic Americans the size of Muhammad Ali or George Foreman, in dark suits, sunglasses/"shades," sniffer dogs and movie type firearms, were all over Arusha International Conference Centre giving all and sundry very menacing looks.
Many of us here in Kenya in the 1980s and 1990s used to avoid areas where President Daniel T. arap Moi would be, or scheduled to be, because of the no-nonsense Presidential Escort/Presidential Security Detail, and even President Moi's Presidential Security Detail was "child's play" compared to the much more intimidating Presidential Security Detail of his predecessor President Jomo Kenyatta. Well the American Security Details at Arusha International Conference Centre, Arusha, Tanzania, in the year 2000 made both security details of Presidents Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel T. arap Moi look like "child's play!"
The Americans even searched the official limousine of then Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa with sniffer dogs, much to the disbelief, humiliation and embarrassment of President Benjamin Mkapa, the Tanzanian Presidential Security Detail, Tanzanians in general, and East Africans in general.
And then to cap it all, a bottle of mineral water had been placed where President Bill Clinton was due to sit. The Americans brushed aside the bottle of mineral water "with contempt," replacing it with a can of diet Coca-Cola for President Bill Clinton, which President Clinton indeed sipped on thereafter when the day's session began.
It is hard to excuse President Bill Clinton for these actions, because a President or a Prime Minister sets the tone and temperament of his or her security detail e.g. how come there were no such reported incidents of bullying, harassment, humiliation and contempt when President Barack Obama visited Tanzania in 2013, and when President Barack Obama too, visited Kenya in 2015?
President Obama must have made it very clear to his security detail what he would and would not tolerate e.g. remember how Kenyan music group "Sauti Sol" freely mingled with President Obama after they performed for him in 2015? Each time a menacing looking American security officer would step forward, President Obama gave them a clear sign to "back off" i.e. "I am OK with this."
Bill Clinton made two high profile visits to Africa as US President i.e. in 1998 and 2000. Kenya was snubbed on both occasions because of the rocky relations that Kenya had with the West between 1990 and 2000 e.g. bilateral and multilateral donor funding was suspended to Kenya between 1990 and 2000, and even on very brief resumption in the year 2000, then Kenyan President Daniel T. arap Moi flatly declared on Moi Day 2000 (10th October 2000), that the conditions given by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the resumption of donor funding to Kenya were too stringent and could not be met by the Kenya Government e.g. wide scale staff layoffs across the Kenyan Civil Service then and across Kenyan Local Authorities/Kenyan Local Governments/Kenyan Local Councils/Kenyan Municipalities back then, so in actual fact, the suspension of bilateral and multilateral donor funding to Kenya ran from 1990 to the last day of the Moi presidency i.e. 30th December 2002.
It was actually by no accident that Mwai Kibaki and the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) trounced Uhuru Kenyatta and Moi's Kenya African National Union (KANU) at the 2002 elections e.g. the years 2000, 2001 and 2002 were particularly scary in Kenya i.e. the economy was down and businesses all across the country were shutting down big time.
A drive from Southern Kenya to Northern Kenya or from Eastern Kenya to Western Kenya was very unsettling in the years 2000, 2001 and 2002 with businesses shut and little activity at centres and towns all through the day on weekdays i.e. it was like the day of the week was Sunday permanently in the years 2000, 2001 and 2002. The capital city of Kenya, Nairobi, was also greatly affected by the Kenyan downturn and Kenyan recession of the years 2000, 2001 and 2002.
Enter President Bill Clinton to Africa for the second time in the year 2000, and in particular, enter President Bill Clinton to the United Republic of Tanzania ("Jamhuri wa Muungano ya Tanzania"), in the year 2000. Kenya and Tanzania are neighbours. It was very humiliating for Tanzania, and East Africa at large.
Cell phones had began taking root in East and Central Africa at large at the time i.e. Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), though mobile phone subscribers in East and Central Africa back then in the year 2000, were much smaller than they are today.
Anyhow, the Americans shut down the mobile phone network all across East and Central Africa for the duration of about 15 hours i.e. for the duration of about 15 hours, East and Central Africa at large, could not call or text on the different mobile phone networks.
The American Secret Service and American Security Agencies then took over Arusha International Conference Centre, Arusha, Tanzania, where President Bill Clinton was meeting Heads of State and Heads of Government of COMESA i.e. the Common Market for East and Southern Africa.
Intimidating looking gigantic Americans the size of Muhammad Ali or George Foreman, in dark suits, sunglasses/"shades," sniffer dogs and movie type firearms, were all over Arusha International Conference Centre giving all and sundry very menacing looks.
Many of us here in Kenya in the 1980s and 1990s used to avoid areas where President Daniel T. arap Moi would be, or scheduled to be, because of the no-nonsense Presidential Escort/Presidential Security Detail, and even President Moi's Presidential Security Detail was "child's play" compared to the much more intimidating Presidential Security Detail of his predecessor President Jomo Kenyatta. Well the American Security Details at Arusha International Conference Centre, Arusha, Tanzania, in the year 2000 made both security details of Presidents Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel T. arap Moi look like "child's play!"
The Americans even searched the official limousine of then Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa with sniffer dogs, much to the disbelief, humiliation and embarrassment of President Benjamin Mkapa, the Tanzanian Presidential Security Detail, Tanzanians in general, and East Africans in general.
And then to cap it all, a bottle of mineral water had been placed where President Bill Clinton was due to sit. The Americans brushed aside the bottle of mineral water "with contempt," replacing it with a can of diet Coca-Cola for President Bill Clinton, which President Clinton indeed sipped on thereafter when the day's session began.
It is hard to excuse President Bill Clinton for these actions, because a President or a Prime Minister sets the tone and temperament of his or her security detail e.g. how come there were no such reported incidents of bullying, harassment, humiliation and contempt when President Barack Obama visited Tanzania in 2013, and when President Barack Obama too, visited Kenya in 2015?
President Obama must have made it very clear to his security detail what he would and would not tolerate e.g. remember how Kenyan music group "Sauti Sol" freely mingled with President Obama after they performed for him in 2015? Each time a menacing looking American security officer would step forward, President Obama gave them a clear sign to "back off" i.e. "I am OK with this."
