A visa ban on US officials? CNN would kill us

In what way can our State House retaliate against the District of Columbia’s White House?

What can Mwai Kibaki do to force reforms in the way that Barack Obama is governing his country?

But, judging from the content of our debate on this subject, mine is probably a false question.

Why? Because — we read between the lines — the American system needs no reform. It is the world’s template.

It is the ideal that all other governments must emulate.

It is above reproach. Indeed, only from such a moral premise can that country’s president nominate himself as the chief inspector of all world governments.

That is what amuses me about the suggestion that Kibaki should retaliate by denying visas to officials of the Obama government.

If the Obama government is perfection personified — if no official is corrupt or sabotaging his reform efforts — on what criterion can Kibaki base any visa ban?

Obama has clear criteria for all his actions against Kenya.

What’s more, he gets off his armchair (at least through envoys) to study the target country thoroughly.

Nairobi teems with spooky characters — either imported or hired locally — whose job is to collect sordid facts and figures about official Kenya.

I will bet you my bottom shilling that Hillary Clinton, Johnnie Carson and Michael Ranneberger know a hundred times more about what is going on in our corridors of power than do all our MPs, lawyers, editors, priests and academics put together.

All these are long on critical opinion but incredibly short on real information.

To be sure, we also have a foreign minister and probably a North America desk in his ministry (the equivalent of Mr Carson’s outfit).

We also have an ambassador in Washington.