The high drama smear campaign characterising the American elections played out in Kenya, thousands of miles away in the land of Illinois Senator Barack Obama’s father, when an
American author was bundled out of Nairobi, moments before he could launch his book,
The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and The Cult of Personality.Dr Jerome Corsi, a Republican who came to Kenya to discredit Barack Obama, was declared
persona non grata and deported on Tuesday night. Corsi was arrested shortly after 8am just as he was about to address a news conference to launch his anti-Obama book, which depicts Mr Obama, whose father was Kenyan, as
a sympathiser of radical Islam and communism, at the Laico Regency Hotel in Nairobi. He was taken to the Immigration headquarters at Nyayo House, and later deported on the British Airways midnight flight out of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. The charge: engaging in illegal activities in Kenya. The Immigration officials also impounded copies of his
factually inaccurate book.
The decision to deport him was made after it emerged that Dr Corsi and his companion Mr Bueler had entered the country as tourists, stating they intended to visit game parks. The book launch was a commercial venture, and therefore they had contravened their immigration status. After questioning, the two were taken to the office of the Permanent Secretary, Mr Emmanuel Kisombe, and from there through the basement to a car in which they were driven to the house where Dr Corsi had been staying in Runda Estate for verification of his passport and visa before they were escorted to the airport. There he and his aide were held in the Immigration office to await their flight out of the country.
The move came hours before Obama
pummelled John McCain in the second live TV presidential campaign debate. On Tuesday, the US presidential contest was turning increasingly nasty, as the presidential rivals launched personal attacks against each other. McCain is trailing the Illinois Senator in opinion polls
by up to 20 points amid an economic meltdown.
A US embassy official said they were not told officially about the arrests, saying they had learnt about them from the media, and added that Corsi was a private individual and did not warrant comment from the embassy since he was not a US government official. Immigration officers, however, said Corsi was "free to apply for a valid work permit to come back and launch his book". Sources at Immigration headquarters intimated that Corsi and Buella had their visitors’ passes annulled for violating rules. "They violated terms of the visitor’s pass by engaging in a business and marketing of his book. They required a special permit to do business," a top Immigration source said.
Below is a press statement from the Laico Regency Hotel distancing itself from Corsi and his ill-fated book launch...
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