Russ Feingold: “the last time I devoted a floor statement to Kenya it was to condemn the assault by elite police and paramilitary…”

“the last time I devoted a floor statement to Kenya it was to condemn the assault by elite police and paramilitary commandos armed with AK-47s on the offices of the Standard Group's offices in an attempt, by the government of that time, to prevent an independent newspaper from publishing a story on a sensitive political matter. That was nearly 2 years ago--in March 2006--when Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki and senior members of his government were facing serious charges of bribery, mismanagement of public funds, inadequate governance reform efforts, and political favoritism. Unfortunately, while some reform measures have been instituted, corruption continues to choke Kenya's government and permeate society as efforts to curb such practices have been significantly deprioritized. Transparency International's 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index shows Kenya sliding down to number 150 out of 179 countries, on par with Zimbabwe and Kyrgyzstan. More encouraging have been the increasingly engaged voices of the Kenyan people and the dynamic media that has developed since the last election. The last election showed the people of Kenya that their votes did count enough to bring about a change, and the independent press has simultaneously expanded and strengthened remarkably. Media outlets have not allowed themselves to be intimidated as they persist in exposing government mismanagement.”