Incoming US Ambassador to Kenya Margaret Whitman on Friday expressed confidence that Tuesday’s general election will be peaceful, free and fair.
Speaking when she presented her credentials to President Uhuru Kenyatta, at State House, Nairobi, Ambassador Whitman said Kenya will also have a peaceful transition.
“…I have no doubt Kenya will showcase for the world what free and fair election looks like and how peaceful transitions work,” the new Ambassador to Kenya said.
She said this on the backdrop of a security alert this week by the embassy warning Americans against travelling to Kisumu citing possible violence.
The embassy thereafter issued a clarification, terming the move as a normal security alert to its nationals.
US Embassy imposes movement restrictions on personnel in Kisumu ahead of polls
Other envoys who presented credentials alongside Whiteman are ambassadors Sebastian Groth of Germany, Kamal Gubara Mohamed of the Sudan and Bacha Debele Buta of Ethiopia.
Whitman arrived in the country on Monday, just in time for the August 9 general election.
Whitman arrives in the country amidst a highly contested transitional election in Kenya and unstable Horn of Africa region.
She replaces Ambassador Kyle McCarter, who ended his tour of duty on January 20 after the Joe Biden administration took over.
Ambassador Whitman, a dollar billionaire and the Republican nominee for California governor in 2010, was nominated by President Biden in December last year.
She was unanimously confirmed by the Senate as the 18th United States Ambassador to Kenya on July 14, almost eight months since her nomination. According to her profile on the US Embassy website, Ambassador Whitman has significant experience leading business organizations, from start-ups to large multinational companies in Silicon Valley.
“She has served as the President and CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and the Hewlett-Packard Company, both multinational information technology companies. She also served as President and CEO of eBay Inc., an online marketplace and digital payments company,” her profile reads.
She is worth $5 billion, according to Forbes’ most recent estimates. Ambassador. Whitman has also been a member of a number of corporate boards of directors, including Procter & Gamble and General Motors.
The embassy describes her as committed to equality in education and protection of the environment.
In her in-tray is the delayed US-Kenya trade negotiations, the worst drought in Kenya and the region in 40 years and visa complaints by Kenyans.
In June Kenya and the US revisited bilateral trade talks at the World Trade Organization’s 12th Ministerial Conference in Geneva.
During a meeting between US Trade Representative Aambassador Katherine Tai and Kenya’s Trade Cabinet Secretary Betty Maina, the two states agreed to finalise a list of areas for cooperation to deepen economic engagement.
The next steps were to be announced by last month.
The US is pushing for favourable terms among them a duty free market access for its goods, including agricultural and industrial, in a move aimed at taming the growing dominance of China’s trade with Kenya.
Prior to her arrival , USAID Administrator Samantha Power was in Kenya on July 22, when she announced $255 million (Sh29 billion) in humanitarian and development assistance.
Power said $234 million will go into humanitarian assistance and emergency relief to fight the ongoing drought, the worst in 40 years after four failed rain seasons.
The rest of the amount, she said, will go towards development assistance, particularly in long-term investment in agriculture to ensure food security.
Whitman holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an AB in Economics from Princeton University.
