Kenyan Government Denies Dalai Lama Visa

The Kenyan Embassy in New Dehli, India, denied the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, a visa to enter the country. His Holiness Dalai Lama is largely been seen around the world as the epitome of Tibet's quest for independence.

The Dalai Lama was expected for a week-long private visit to Maasai Mara Game Reserve, widely considered to be an awesome natural wonder. But, as in 1999, the Kenyan Government scuttled his plans to visit the country.

Kenya's Daily Nation reports that this is despite the fact that the spiritual leader had been promised by Kenyan Vice President Moody Awori that he would be issued with necessary travel documents.

The decision to deny the Dalai Lama a visa is highly attributed to the diplomatic relations between Kenya and China, particularly the fact that China has been providing a lot of financial support to the Kibaki-led government. The Kenyan government is keen to maintain its relationship with China without only getting entangled into the protracted China-Tibet question but also negating principle and integrity.

"The fact is the Kenyan government has sort of painted itself into a corner. It is obvious that they are now trying to curry favour with the Chinese. This is made all the more suspicious following the recent visit to China by over fifty African heads of state, including President Kibaki,' said Patrick Gathara, a prominent Kenyan citizen blogger of http://gathara.blogspot.com in an interview.

"I'm sure the topics of Tibet and Taiwan must have come up. I think that China needs us just as much as we need them and our relations cannot survive a private visit by the Dalai Lama."

Surprisingly, Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki was highly critical of his predecessor Daniel Arap Moi when the latter denied the Dalai Lama a visa in 1999. Kibaki accused Moi of bending down to the whims of international donors, in particular, China.

Yet, it appears that in denying the Dalai Lama a visa, Kibaki's government is also choosing expediency over integrity as did his predecessor.