Congressmen to Seek Probe of $418M Arms Sale to Kenya on Obama’s Final Day
Five members of the US Congress are urging the Kenyan government to reconsider a proposed sh43 billion purchase of 12 armed aircraft and related elements intended for use in Somalia against Al-Shabaab.
Four Republicans, joined by a Democratic member of the Congressional Black Caucus, suggested on Tuesday in a letter to Nairobi’s envoy to Washington that the potential deal appears to be a bad deal for Kenya.
The lawmakers told Ambassador Robinson Njeru Githae that they “have reason to question the propriety of the acquisition.”
At the same time, the congressional sceptics are urging their colleagues to block the proposed transaction. They are also calling on Congress to investigate the circumstances surrounding Kenya’s pending agreement to buy a dozen armed Air Tractor AT-802 aircraft, two trainer planes and technical support and programme management services from L3 Technologies.
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The five congressmen said in their letter to Ambassador Githae that L3 “has no experience converting agricultural aircraft into intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft with precision-strike capability.”
