US Ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman during the interview at the embassy in Nairobi on November 15, 2024.
Reuben Brigety and Meg Whitman are two Americans from diverse backgrounds. Mr Brigety is a former university academic, while Ms Whitman is a Wall Street executive who ran famous blue-chip companies.
Then they became diplomats and were posted to Africa. Both sparked controversy in their host countries. When they tendered their resignations last week, it was expected because they were political appointees serving President Joe Biden. Donald Trump will replace Biden in January. He has a habit of getting rid of political appointees of his predecessors.
But in South Africa, as in Kenya, some locals took to social media to celebrate the departure of controversial diplomats as good riddance.
Mr Brigety, who was posted to South Africa, said he was leaving as "standard procedure" during a change of presidential administration.
Like Ms Whitman, he cited trade cooperation and other areas of bilateral relations that he felt he had helped to strengthen during his time.
“On trade, we have supported South African businesses in accessing the US market through The African Growth and Opportunity Act and fostered investments in the automotive, minerals, chemicals, agricultural products, and transportation sectors,” he said, claiming he helped create some 267,000 jobs.
Many may agree on that economic bit. But his controversy was political. In May 2023, he touched a raw nerve after accusing South Africa of supplying weapons to Russia.
“The arming of the Russians is extremely serious, and we do not consider this issue to be resolved," Mr Brigety said, in a damning accusation then. Those accusations arose from a Russian naval ship that docked in South Africa in December 2022. South Africa and Russia have had stronger ties, something that miffed Washington because Russia also invaded Ukraine for which the US has imposed sanctions on various Russian entities.
His departure was celebrated largely because many South Africans felt he had interfered with their country’s internal decisions.
One Facebook user, Edwin Malatji, had a blunt message: “He must go and not come back.” Sonja Fourie’s said “Cheers. Don’t come back!” As discussions spiralled, Sandra Boyce encapsulated the feelings of many when she said, "Good riddance, you showed a lack of respect toward SA with no effort to offer an apology."
Critics argue the celebrations mirror Joe Biden’s selection, and policy basis for Africa, which pushed the envoys into focus areas that weren’t resonating with locals.
“For the US to be taken seriously in Africa, the US President needs to make a concerted personal effort to tour the continent, not only to build people-people networks but to show authenticity and seriousness towards the continent,” argued David Monda, Professor of Political Science at the City University of New York.
“This should not be done as an afterthought in a lame-duck period as Biden is belatedly doing with his upcoming trip to Angola. It should be authentic, early in the president's term and well-defined. _Washington is not the only game in town. Africa has many suitors, many options in a constantly changing multi-polar world.”
According to him, the US foreign policy has to make a meaningful impact on the day-to-day lives of Africans on the ground, away from Photo ops with African presidents in Washington. In Kenya, Ms Whitman was vilified for her controversial statement endorsing the election of President William Ruto, earning a “rogue ambassador” label from the opposition leader Raila Odinga (she has since clarified that she was citing various polls observers, not her views.) Whitman had aimed to strengthen US-Kenya relations through various trade agreements and health initiatives, including efforts to combat HIV and malaria. However, her tenure faced mounting criticism as many Kenyans felt she failed to adequately address serious human rights violations under President Ruto’s administration.
Kenyan prominent lawyer Gitobu Imanyara argued Ms Whitman ignored violations to pursue American economic diplomacy.
“Her two-year tour of duty will be remembered as one that identified American policy with President Ruto's ruthless crackdown on pro-democracy and human rights activities contrary to the national values and principles in our Constitution and which have characterised the people-to-people friendship that has been the foundation of Kenyan and US relationship over the last 60 years,” he wrote on X.
“Her successor will have a challenging job in restoring that foundation. Economic development which was the cornerstone of her good intentions cannot take place in an environment that does not respect democratic principles of rule of law, the right to life and accountability in leadership.”
Protests and public dissatisfaction grew, with citizens calling for more engagement on civil liberties issues rather than merely pursuing economic interests. They pointed a finger at US reluctance to condemn police brutality during Gen-Z protests and the subsequent abductions that followed. Ms Whitman has since argued that American values of democracy and human rights defined any relationship with Kenya, and has also condemned reported phone tracking to abduct suspects.
Beyond the dislike, however, the tenures of these envoys may signal the problem with Biden’s policy in Africa.
“It shows sometimes US foreign policy interests in Africa (in this case Kenya), do not always align with domestic realities in the countries concerned. In the case of Kenya, the unpopular Finance Bill 2024 was perceived as a bitter economic pill from Washington, being imposed on a Kenyan population already overtaxed and unhappy with the course of the country,” Monda said.
“Non-career diplomats from Washington in Africa can underestimate the cunning and manipulative capacities of governments in Africa to present the facade of democratic governance on the surface while masking autocratic and repressive policies their governments pursue in reality.”
Additional Reporting by Aggrey Mutambo
