Kenyans Must Be Cautious About Regime Change Agenda

Business Daily (Nairobi)

John Baraka

13 April 2011

opinion

One of the most extraordinary revelations in the cables released by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks was the open admission by the US embassy in Nairobi that its stated aim in Kenya was regime change.

The statement was not put in such stark terms, of course, but US ambassador Michael Ranneberger, in a dispatch to Washington, stated that the embassy is financing youth groups with the ultimate objective of a change in leadership in the country.

It is very surprising that after the initial disquiet about the revelations, everyone has gone silent about the brazen admission by a foreign envoy that his key mission in the country is to topple the leadership.

As a businessman or investor, a key question one would want to ask is, what does history teach us about the outcome of “colour revolutions” that have been sponsored by the US and its security and intelligence agencies around the world?

Almost without exception, the result has been significant political instability and unrest. The examples abound.

These range from the Bulldozer Revolution of 2000 in Serbia, Georgia’s Rose Revolution (2003), Ukraine’s Orange Revolution (2004), Lebanon’s Cedar Revolution and the exceedingly violent Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan in 2005.

Another more recent one is the failed Green Revolution (2009-2010) in Iran.

Unrest

All those initiatives were united by one thread. The American embassies in those countries worked with NGOs, some of which were set up by the Americans themselves, with the sole objective of regime change.

Those NGOs received huge sums of money, mainly channelled through intelligence officers attached to US embassies.

They then used those funds to stir unrest among the youth and the perfect brew was in place to foment unrest.

What do the WikiLeaks cables say about the American efforts in Kenya?

They essentially form a stunning replay of the ingredients used in “colour revolutions” elsewhere.

The cables reveal America is spending Sh3.6 billion on youth projects whose objective is to kick out existing leaders and replace them with a new lot.

One of the resolutions reached by the US-backed Youth Forum is on the formation of a youth-led political party “whose ideologies are in sync with the youth… and to mobilise support for reform-minded youth leaders to join positions of leadership in order to change the country.”

One cannot argue against the need for reinvigorating the national leadership in many African countries.

But surely that is a task that is best left to the people of Africa rather than being financed and organised from Washington.

More to the point, such efforts threaten to undermine the stability of the nation.

Kenyans’ silence about these revelations is alarming and dangerously negligent.

The writer is a regional security analyst.

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