Biden discusses 'transparency' with Kenya president

3 years ago 216

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta discussed fiscal transparency during their White House gathering Thursday, arsenic the East African person faces scrutiny implicit revelations that helium and his household stashed millions of dollars successful hidden offshore accounts.

Kenyatta is 1 of much than 330 existent and erstwhile politicians identified arsenic beneficiaries of concealed accounts revealed successful caller reports known arsenic the Pandora Papers. He and his relatives person immoderate $30 cardinal successful offshore holdings, according to reporting by The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The consortium obtained millions of leaked documents that item the hidden wealthiness of salient satellite leaders, politicians, firm executives and celebrities. Kenyatta has denied wrongdoing.

Biden did not straight code the Pandora Papers revelations successful a little quality with Kenyatta astatine the commencement of the Oval Office meeting. The White House said successful a connection pursuing the gathering that the leaders “underscored the request to bring further transparency and accountability to home and planetary fiscal systems.”

“Our nations stock a heavy committedness to fairness and to respect and equity,” Biden said. “And I’m committed to further elevating our ties with Kenya and nations crossed Africa arsenic a whole. But Kenya is cardinal to this.”

White House property caput Jen Psaki noted that Biden has been vocal astir what helium sees arsenic “inequalities” successful the planetary fiscal system.

“That doesn’t mean we don’t conscionable with radical you person disagreements on,” Psaki said. “We person a scope of interests successful moving with Kenya and moving with them connected issues successful Africa, successful the region, and that volition beryllium the superior focus.”

Biden announced astatine the commencement of his gathering with Kenyatta that the U.S. volition donate 17 cardinal doses of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine to the African Union. Africa lags down overmuch of the satellite successful vaccinations: Only 9 African countries met the World Health Organization's extremity of vaccinating astatine slightest 10% of the colonisation by the extremity of September.

The caller donations, expected to beryllium delivered successful the coming weeks, are successful summation to the 50 cardinal doses already donated to the African Union by the U.S. A vaccine acquisition radical backed by the African Union has already procured 400 cardinal J&J doses.

Kenyatta thanked Biden for helping Kenya and different African countries entree the vaccine, and said further assistance from the planetary assemblage would beryllium “greatly welcomed.”

Kenyatta's sojourn besides comes arsenic a astir yearlong warfare successful the Tigray portion of bluish Ethiopia continues to roil the region.

The United States is looking to Kenya, agelong an state connected counterterrorism efforts successful East Africa, to assistance upwind down the struggle successful neighboring Ethiopia that has near the country gripped by human-made famine. Biden has threatened to enforce sanctions against Ethiopian officials and others progressive successful the struggle if the warring doesn't upwind down soon.

Idaho Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the apical Republican connected the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the gathering with a strategical spouse was “long overdue.” He called connected Biden to code interior tensions successful respective parts of Kenya and the interaction they could person connected adjacent year’s election.

Risch besides said he’s acrophobic astir Kenya racking up indebtedness with China, which accounts for astir one-third of Kenya's 2021-22 outer indebtedness work costs and is its biggest overseas creditor aft the World Bank.

The gathering was Biden’s archetypal one-on-one, in-person engagement arsenic president with an African leader.

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