He may have left Nairobi to Thailand, but former US ambassador to Kenya Robert Godec’s long shadow at the Kenyan mission still bears residues of his American conservatism, including the rhapsodic acceptance of President William Ruto by current envoy Margaret ‘Meg’ Whitman.

Ms Whitman has seized every opportunity to romanticise Kenya’s economic policies, technology and leadership as the best setting for investors in Africa. She casts the opposition led by Raila Odinga as no-gooders, hence to be kept arm’s length.

Retired US Marine Andrew Franklin shed light on the dealings of Godec in Nairobi casting him as a nocturnal owl that used his position to project Raila in Washington as a communist should never be allowed to lead Kenya.

On several occasions, according to ODM party secretariat in Nairobi, former Raila Odinga Salim Lone raised the issue with Godec and even protested to Washington about the ambassador’s undiplomatic conduct to no avail. Salim Lone had promised to shed light on the standoff between the defunct National Super Alliance (NASA) and the diplomat, especially the controversial 2017 presidential election results.

Godec reportedly spent nights with opposition to trying dissuade leadership from filing a petition at the Supreme Court to nullify the outcome. The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) had announced Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto winners of the presidential poll.

Franklin told Tell Media that when he tried to talk Godec out of the stereotype view of Raila, the ambassador retaliated with a flurry of dispatches from the Nairobi that cast the opposition as communists hounds that Washington should not entertain.

“When I stood in front of Raila, Mudavadi, Moses Wetangula in Kilimani in Nairobi and was offering to completely redo the NASA security manifesto to demonstrate to the Americans why Raila was not a threat to the war against terror and that NASA would do a better job than Jubilee in defeating Al Shabaab and countering terror, Godec demonised me,” he says.’

According to Lone, a former United Nations worker, Washington upheld Godec’s dispatches and treated the Kenyan opposition as pariahs.

Franklin adds, “They (Americans) assured the Kenya government that as long the process was fair for everybody, they would still get their $50 million for the elections directly to IEBC. When I said to Raila in 2007 I supported ODM, people at the American Chamber of Commerce asked me why I would support ODM if I am not a communist. This is because where you (Raila) went to university (USSR) was a communist country and that country ceased to exist in 1989 and 1990 when the Berlin wall came down. But still people at the American Chamber of Commerce still thought of you (Raila) as some kind of classical Marxist, anti-American communist. But in 2007, some people at the America Chamber of Cimmerce still thought of you as anti-American and soft on terror.

Franklin explains that there are conservative Republicans in America who fear as Raila as anti-America, anti-West. Equally, there are conservatives in the United Kingdom wo don’t care about democracy in Kenya as long their interests are protected.

“The problem in this country goes beyond politics and it has an impact on Kenya and the region (East Africa). If you look at way Godec behaved for six years, he cared less about democracy. Godec was at the US embassy in 1998 (as a junior officer) when it was bombed. He survived the embassy bombing like most people, which is how he developed a pathological fear of reformists in Kenya.

During the European Business Council breakfast early last year, Ruto reportedly caught the attention of the business community as he addressed their fears.

“This (state visit) is probably not Biden’s idea. It is 60 years since Kenya and United States established diplomatic relations. Why Ruto has been invited to the United States instead of the Secretary of State (Antony Blinken) coming here) I’m not sure. I believe it is to reward Ruto for agreeing to send 1,000 cops to Haiti. I believe it will give us (US) a carte blanche to use Manda Bay and access US military base in Wajir and other facilities like Nanyuki. It is a reward. Ruto is a much more attractive person now than Raila because he doesn’t drink, he doesn’t smoke. People like Kyle MacCarter (former US ambassador before Meg), who was a Trump guy, hold the same view,” observes.

In Nairobi, ODM Communications director Phil Etale confirmed reports about the Godec, saying the former ambassador meddled in Kenyan politics a lot and his dispatches from Nairobi were hostile to the Kenyan opposition.

Reckons Etale, “He (Godec) is a capitalist who believes anything a social democrat or a liberal democrat, which ODM subscribes to, can rule Kenya and work with America or a capitalist. America also comfortable working with a capitalist; f you go there in the name of a liberal democrat or social democrat, they will thin you are facing East (communism).

This is rather interesting as over the years, the ODM leader has used American experts for branding and messaging, which in most cases is barely different from what his rivals propagate.

When the Tell reached principal secretary for foreign affairs, Korir Sing’oei, he acknowledge the debate the generated by the impending state visit by Ruto to the US.

“I have seen your questions. Give me time. I am in meeting. I will apply my mid to them,” the principal secretary promised, but did not respond as promised.”

“Godec treated with a lot of contemp. Godec had his own agenda that he was pushing at that time,” Says Etale.

• A Tell report