Dick, we hardly knew ye

So much for Dick Morris's Kenyan safari.

Morris, the erstwhile Clintonista now advising Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga's presidential campaign, left Kenya yesterday under the threat of deportation, the tabloid Nairobi Star reported today. A spokesman for the government of the incumbent president, Mwai Kibaki, said that Morris was going to be kicked out because he was working here while on a tourist visa, a violation of immigration laws. (A chunk of Nairobi's expatriate community shudders.)

Raila's campaign told reporters that Morris would continue to work as his consultant, and that he had planned to return to the U.S. yesterday anyway. (So there.)

I doubt that Morris will return to Kenya in the six weeks between now and election day, given the furor he sparked in his brief visit this week. Yesterday supporters of President Kibaki used the news of Morris's appointment to accuse the United States "of wanting to colonize Kenya," wrote the Daily Nation. They said that Muslim groups, which have pledged to support Raila, should switch over because of the U.S. government's policy of cracking down on Muslims in its war on terrorism.

Hope you're getting all this.

There's a lot of hot air to be expected in a presidential race (no one knows this better than the American electorate) but the appearance of this foreigner with a shady past has made some people here go a little nuts. To his credit, Kibaki took a cool-headed view in his remarks later in the day. He said, "We will not get lost because of one American who has been brought to Kenya. Please let us not attack (the) U.S., but deal with individuals."

Of course, in Kenya's system the president still has control of the state machinery all the way down to the guys who stamp the passports at the Nairobi airport. Kibaki may be betting that Morris won't be back.

Comments

[M]

Hey Shashank,

Long time. Interesting story this. Although the Government is preaching water and drinking wine, conveniently forgetting the Armenians fiasco.

Besides, politican consultants are nothing new. NARC (The original) used then heavilly in 2002. As did KANU's Uhuru Kenyatta