VZCZCXRO4511
OO RUEHROV
DE RUEHNR #2338/01 3141407
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 101407Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1518
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 NAIROBI 002338 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR A/S CARSON FROM THE AMBASSADOR 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/10/2019 
TAGS: KDEM PREL PGOV KE
SUBJECT: PUSHING REFORMS: THE NATIONAL YOUTH FORUM AND 
GOVERNMENT REACTION 
 
REF: NAIROBI 1811 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR MICHAEL E. RANNEBERGER for REASONS 1.4 (B) an 
d (D) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary. Sixty-six independent youth organizations 
across the country are planning, with our support and 
encouragement, to hold a National Youth Forum on November 17 
to focus on the reform agenda and national reconciliation. 
The government feels threatened by such independent activity 
) particularly that it is drawing youth from every 
constituency in the country -- and our support for it.  The 
President and senior Ministers raised this with me, and I 
responded (see para 11). The National Youth Forum will take 
place in a context in which youth across ethnic and political 
lines are making clear their support for reform and change. 
This growing awareness and the Forum will help drive 
domestic-driven pressure for action.  End summary. 
¶2. (C) As part of our broad efforts to propel implementation 
of the reform agenda (to which the coalition government 
committed itself) we have been seeking to encourage peaceful 
domestic-driven pressure.  A key element of this is expanded 
outreach to youth, who constitute two-thirds of the 
population. (See reftel and previous on overall strategy 
framework and actions.) That outreach has involved meetings 
with young people around the country and expanded support to 
independent grassroots youth organizations through USAID,s 
Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI), among other efforts. 
¶3. (C) In September my team and I met with six prominent 
youth leaders to float the idea of our supporting youth 
organizations to hold a National Youth Forum to focus on the 
reform agenda and national reconciliation.  At that meeting, 
the activists indicated that plans were already underway to 
hold a national youth congress, along lines similar to those 
we were suggesting.  As a result of subsequent discussions 
between the youth activists and my team, the youth activists 
decided to expand the scope of the national meeting to 
include bringing together young people from throughout the 
nation. With our technical support, the youth activists 
reached out to over 60 other youth organizations and 
developed a plan of action to hold a National Youth Forum on 
November 17.  The 66 youth organizations plan to mobilize 
about 600 young people (including 2 representatives from each 
of Kenya,s 210 parliamentary constituencies) for a full-day 
event at the Kenyatta International Conference Center (KICC) 
in Nairobi. We agreed to provide financial support through 
OTI. 
¶4. (C) At the end of my November 2 meeting with President 
Kibaki to deliver the letter from President Obama (septel), 
Kibaki raised for a couple of minutes in a general way our 
involvement with youth, saying vaguely that it had raised 
some concerns.  Before a discussion could take place, the 
President,s permanent secretary Muthaura jumped in to say 
the President had another meeting, and the President left the 
room.  Muthaura then told me that some of the government 
Ministers wanted to talk with me.  Minister of Security 
Saitoti, FM Wetangula, and Deputy Prime Minister Mudavadi 
came into the room along with some other officials.  They 
were entirely focused on the planned National Youth Forum. 
In essence, they described such youth activities as 
&unhelpful8 and warned that &troublemakers8 could seek to 
disrupt the meeting.  I pushed back hard, acknowledging U.S. 
support for the meeting, but making clear that the agenda and 
participation were being organized by the youth 
organizations.  I emphasized that the meeting would be 
peaceful and made clear I did not appreciate the veiled 
threat through the reference to &troublemakers.8  In fact, 
I noted, if as it claims the government is committed to 
reform then it should embrace the meeting.  On November 9 I 
sent a letter (cleared by Washington) to those involved in 
the meeting making clear the parameters of our engagement 
with youth as part of broader efforts to encourage 
implementation of reforms (see text in para 11). 
¶5. (C) Our outreach to youth and the holding of the National 
Youth Forum come at a time when there is widespread 
recognition that youth throughout the country are 
increasingly frustrated with lack of reform, which they 
correctly link to insufficient efforts to alleviate poverty 
and to empower youth economically and politically.  This 
broadening realization of the need for change is driving 
youth to work together across ethnic, religious, and 
political lines (but also driving the potential to cause 
instability and violence if youth activism is not channeled 
peacefully within the democratic system). All of the 66 youth 
organizations involved in organizing the National Youth Forum 
are inter-ethnic, and represent all the political 
constituencies in the country. 
¶6. (C) The fact that youth are increasingly asking 
politicians hard questions and that they are increasingly 
resistant to manipulation greatly threatens the political 
 
NAIROBI 00002338  002 OF 004 
 
 
class.  The increasing activism of youth is one of the most 
important dynamics at play to threaten the edifice of the 
culture of impunity.  That the political class (as reflected 
by those in the meeting with me) is so threatened by a 
meeting of several hundred youth indicates that this edifice 
may be weaker and less resilient than anyone suspects.  While 
another message will analyze the broader state of the reform 
process and U.S. efforts, it is worth noting here that the 
political class which continues to resist reforms is clearly 
reeling under steadily increasing pressure from the U.S., 
from Kofi Annan, from Ocampo, and to a lesser extent from the 
EU.  Most importantly, that external pressure is encouraging 
growing domestic pressure for implementation of reforms, and 
thus the government,s negative reaction to the National 
Youth Forum.  The external and internal pressure is also 
yielding some results (as in the commitment to police reform, 
among other steps). 
¶7. (C) On November 10 I received a call from FM Wetangula in 
response to my letter about engagement with you.  He told me 
that &I cannot disagree with anything in your letter,8 but 
emphasized that &the government8 still did not want the 
National Youth Forum to take place. When I pushed back he 
admitted that the youth organizations had a right to meet. 
He asked me to engage again with the Minister of Youth before 
the Youth Forum takes place, which I agreed to do (and had 
already planned to do). I had already met earlier this week 
with the two Assistant Ministers of Youth to make clear our 
interest in partnering with the government on youth 
activities while also working directly with youth 
organizations. 
¶8. (C) During the night of November 9 the offices of DAI 
(which is OTI,s primary contractor providing the funding and 
support to the youth organizations for the holding of the 
Forum) were burglarized.  In what was clearly a targeted 
operation, only 3 laptops containing information related to 
the National Youth Forum were taken (despite the presence of 
much expensive equipment and valuables).  The RSO is involved 
and a police report has been filed.  The operation has the 
hallmarks of the National Security and Intelligence Service, 
which is often used to intimidate civil society activists. 
(When I met with PM Odinga on November 3 on other issues, I 
raised the concerns expressed by Ministers in the November 2 
meeting.  Odinga said Mudavadi, Odinga,s ally, had been 
pressured into attending and that he, Odinga, was not opposed 
to the holding of the Forum.  He claimed that National 
Security and Intelligence Service Director Gichangi ) whose 
stature with Kibaki has been damaged by a number of missteps 
) is poisoning Kibaki,s ear about U.S. efforts to promote 
reform, alleging that the U.S. is stimulating pressure rather 
than telling Kibaki the truth that he might not want to hear, 
which is that there is growing grassroots domestic pressure.) 
¶9. (C) On November 5 I met with the youth committee 
representating the organizations setting up the National 
Youth Forum.  I relayed the comments which President Kibaki 
and then the Ministers had made to me.  I made clear to the 
committee that it was entirely up to them whether or not to 
proceed with the Forum, but that they had to be alert to the 
real possibility of state-sponsored intimidation or attempts 
to have &troublemakers8 disrupt the event.  The committee 
made clear that the youth organizations had already 
anticipated such possibilities, that precautions have been 
taken, and they are determined to proceed.  They indicated 
that I and other diplomatic colleagues would be invited to 
observe part of the proceedings, and I agreed to encourage my 
counterparts to respond positively. 
¶10.  (C) The National Youth Forum, if held successfully, will 
raise the profile of youth initiatives to push for reform, 
will have a quantum impact in stimulating independent youth 
efforts across the country and across ethnic and political 
lines, and help galvanize domestic-driven pressure for 
change.  That said, the political class and vested interests 
feel very threatened by such independent activity, and there 
is serious potential for further intimidation.  The youth 
organizations are well-organized, have taken into account 
these issues, and are doing their utmost to ensure that the 
Forum is a model of peaceful democratic deliberation.  The 
media will likely give prominent coverage to the event. 
¶11. (U) Begin text of my letter to Mudavadi, Saitoti, 
Wetangula, and Muthaura; the letter was also copied to the 
Prime Minister: 
I am writing to follow up on our November 2 discussion in 
which you expressed concerns about certain of my Mission,s 
activities related to youth. 
 
The U.S. Mission in Nairobi has for many, many years been 
engaged in supporting youth activities in Kenya. We have 
previously sponsored national youth meetings, supported 
micro-enterprise projects for youth, provided 
capacity-building training, offered scholarships, provided 
health assistance targeting the growing problem of HIV 
 
NAIROBI 00002338  003 OF 004 
 
 
infections 
among youth, and facilitated exchange visits to the United 
States, to name just a few areas. 
 
We remain engaged in a wide array of such activities. Some of 
these efforts involve supporting grassroots youth 
organizations that are working to promote implementation of 
the reform agenda. Since the coalition government has made 
clear that it intends to 
implement fully and expeditiously Agenda Four, and because 
the United States has repeatedly committed to support this, 
what we are doing constitutes a vital part of our bilateral 
partnership. 
I thus find expressions of concern about such activities 
surprising. As I made clear to you, in all contacts I and my 
team have with youth ) publicly and privately ) we 
emphasize the need for any activity to be peaceful and to 
take place with full respect for the rule of law. We 
emphasize the need to work within the democratic system as 
well as with relevant government agencies and ministries. We 
also urge the need for national 
reconciliation and state emphatically that there can be no 
place for violence. All of our activities are fully 
transparent. Provincial Commissioners, District Officers, and 
the local 
chiefs are almost always present at meetings which I or 
officers of my Mission hold(whether with youth or others) 
during travel around the country. In many instances, my 
meetings with youth and others are co-hosted with government 
officials. I also routinely invite Members of Parliament to 
join me in such visits and discussions. 
 
It is a very positive sign for Kenya,s democracy that 
independent grassroots youth organizations are developing 
throughout the country and are working peacefully across 
ethnic and political lines to urge and support change through 
implementation of the reform agenda, and to promote national 
reconciliation. 
 
I am sure you agree that in a democratic state, the 
government must not and should not seek to control the 
activities and associational life of civil society, be they 
youth,religious, women, business, or others. That said, it is 
of course appropriate and necessary for the government to 
seek to assist youth and other segments of society as they 
endeavor to contribute to the life of the nation. I commend 
the government for the initiatives it has undertaken, ranging 
from creation of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, to 
expansion of the National Youth Service, to establishment of 
the National Youth Fund, to creation of the Kazi Kwa Vijana 
Fund, to cite only some of the government,s efforts with 
regard to youth. 
 
My government is in the process of developing plans regarding 
a new $45 million initiative for engagement with youth. This 
program was outlined as part of our new Development Grant 
Assistance Agreement signed with the Government of Kenya on 
September 12, 2009. The government has participated in the 
assessment and program design process for the new youth 
initiative and has provided valuable input. My team 
and I will contact relevant government ministers to continue 
discussing how some of this new funding could be used in 
joint programs to highlight the positive U.S.-Kenyan 
partnership. As an element of that partnership, we share the 
objective of helping to empower young people to become 
responsible citizens in order to help promote the future 
democratic stability and prosperity of Kenya. A significant 
part of our program is assisting youth to generate income and 
opportunities for a career where they can make a positive 
contribution. 
 
During our meeting, you specifically inquired about an 
upcoming National Youth Forum meeting to be held November 17 
at KICC. As I indicated, we have provided financial support 
for the holding of that meeting. This meeting is being 
organized by over 60 
youth organizations from across the country to focus on the 
reform agenda and reconciliation. While we have been in close 
touch with the organizers, it is the youth organizations who 
have set the agenda, who have decided who should be invited to 
participate, and who are organizing the event. I and other 
diplomatic colleagues, as well as civil society 
organizations, religious groups, the private sector, and 
others have been 
invited to observe the proceedings, but not to participate. 
 
Given the government,s commitment to advancing democratic 
values and reform, the meeting should be a welcome 
development. I understand that the Minister of Youth and 
Sports and the Police Commissioner have been invited to 
 
NAIROBI 00002338  004 OF 004 
 
 
address the youth meeting. I 
have been assured that no demonstrations or any other outside 
activities will take place in connection with the Forum. In 
that regard, it is my understanding that the Forum will be 
entirely peaceful and within democratic parameters. When you 
met with me you raised the concern that &troublemakers8 
could seek to disrupt the proceedings. I am sure that 
appropriate law enforcement authorities will ensure that such 
outside &troublemakers8 are not allowed to disrupt what, by 
all indications, will be a model exercise in democracy. 
 
Empowering and enabling young people to channel their 
energies into peaceful advocacy which respects the democratic 
system is the best possible way of mitigating against 
instability or unrest which might grow out of the increasing 
frustration and cynicism that many youth feel (as documented 
in Kenyan opinion polls). We see our efforts in Kenya as 
contributing towards democratic stability, which we value no 
less than you. 
 
My Government at the highest levels fully supports our 
engagement with youth, and this letter has specifically been 
cleared by Washington. 
 
I look forward to continuing to work with all of you to 
expand and strengthen the bilateral partnership, which is 
premised on shared democratic values. 
 
End text. 
RANNEBERGER