Political liabilities.

He is well within his rights to nominate Chirau Ali Mwakwere and Robinso Njeru Githae to the diplomatic corps. The President needs men he can trust in the capitals that he considers important. He demonstrates his seriousness of purpose by the men he sends to these world capitals. Washington, D.C. is an important capital, hence his nomination of that stalwart of the Mount Kenya region, Mr Githae. Tanzania is a strong partner in the tourism sector, hence Mr Mwakwere's intended gladhanding in Dar es Salaam.

Kenyans have long forgotten that Mr Githae extolled the virtues of rodents as sources of proteins in the anti-famine efforts of the national government. We accepted his rationale and moved on. It seems the good folks of Ndia did not find his suggestions helpful. Nor the people of Kirinyaga, generally. They chose other people to represent them at the National and County levels. Mr Mwakwere, on the other hand, had a rather colourful encounter with members of the salacious bits of Kenya's press. His earthy vocabulary on that occasion made him stand out. In Tanzania he will cut quite the diplomatic figure.

We should all relax; Messrs Githae and Mwakwere will not be deciding foreign policy any time soon. Their job is to execute the President's directives. Mr Mwakwere will not be having tea with President Kikwete unless President Kenyatta says it is OK to do so. Mr Githae will not phoning Foggy Bottom to follow up on this, that or the other, unless Karanja Kibicho communicates in minute detail what he will say, in what tone he will say it and to who he will say it. Being an ambassador, even the Smith Hempstone kind, means doing what you are told by your head of state to do without question. Otherwise you can try your luck in the private sector or elective politics.

There are those who are less charitable, though, and they will remind the President that one is known by the company one keeps. Many claim, without a shred of proof or an iota or persuasive facts, that he has been keeping company with odious men. One of them has recently won an election without a ballot being cast in his favour, a thing not seen since the 1988 KANU elections. So he will be judged by his nominees for ambassadorial and high commissioner positions. Whether these men are competent will not matter much than how they acted when they had power. Their past actions are proof of their future intentions. What they do outside the strict parameters of their diplomatic remits will reflect on the President and because they have had wobbles in the past, their futures, and that of the President, do not appear so rosy, Kenyans no longer being the optimists of 2003.

The Americans call it patronage. So do we. It is a political tool that buys a President political capital. But it can also cost a President credibility in other venues where he needs political capital too. Why couldn't he have sent the who worthies to Jamaica or Barbados  or one of those beachfront isles of leisure where they couldn't set any political fires? Washington and Dar es Salaam, despite the Chinese Adventure, are critical capitals. Washington DC is the political channel to New York and, by extension, London, the financial centres of a globalised world. Dar es Salaam, eventually, will be the only partner against Islamism along the East African Coast. Neither of these men is well-suited to the role, even if they are backed by teams of geniuses and experts. They simply don't have the stuff. They are political liabilities.