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President Moi Says Destiny of Kenya to Be Decided by Kenyans
Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi said in Nairobi on Saturday that Kenyans are intelligent enough to decide the their own destiny.
Speaking at a joint press conference after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Moi said that "It is too much to be always trying to undermine the intelligence of the African people."
"Those who will decide the destiny of Kenya, for instance, or other people in Africa, will be the people themselves," he said when asked whether there will be a smooth transfer of power in next year's presidential election.
Moi said that during his one-hour meeting with Powell, they discussed bilateral and regional issues. He added that the Powell told him that the U.S. government will continue to support Kenya's reform process and its fight against corruption and HIV/AIDS.
However, Powell said that Kenya has to make more reforms if it wants money from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
"I candidly mentioned to the president that we need more reform efforts visible before we could expect the World Bank and the IMF to continue the valuable work that they are doing here," Powell said.
The IMF and other donors suspended some 300 million U.S. dollars in loans to Kenya late last year, saying that the Kenyan government backtracked on promise of fighting against corruption.
Moi said that Kenya will commit to economic, political and constitutional reforms as well as fight against corruption.
On compensation for victims of the U.S. embassy bombing in 1998, Powell said that the U.S. had already provided 43 million U.S. dollars in relief assistance, and the process of additional compensation are being dealt with by law court, and that he could not comment on the lawsuits.
The blast in Nairobi killed 213 people, including 12 Americans. A near-simultaneous explosion in the U.S. embassy in Dar es Salaam, the capital of neighboring Tanzania, killed 11 people.
While the U.S. government has not paid compensation directly to the victims' relatives and survivors of the bombs, it has funded a number of rehabilitation and health-care projects related to the attack. Those projects have cost the U.S. 43 million dollars so far.
Immediately after his meeting with Moi at the State House, Powell held a lengthy meeting with Kenya's parliament members, opposition party leaders and civil dignitaries in a local hotel.
Kenya is the third stop of Powell's four-nation African trip. He had already visited Mali and South Africa before arriving here on Saturday. Powell will leave here for Uganda on Sunday.
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