By Peter Mutai and Vitalis Kimutai

Roads Minister Franklin Bett has commended President Kibaki for expressing displeasure over US threats to slap travel bans on 15 top Government officials.

Mr Bett said the US administration broke protocol by writing directly to the individuals.

At the same time, Bett denied receiving a letter from the US as alleged in a section of the media.

Speaking during at a funeral in his Bureti, the minister claimed the US was ridiculing Kenya in the name of pushing reforms.

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"The US should have written to President Kibaki, who in turn, should write to his ministers and top civil servants," he added.

Bett spoke during the burial of Samuel Chepkwony Kalya in Roret Division in Bureti constituency.

"I have also served this country as its High Commissioner in Australia and know that for any country to raise issues against another, protocol must be adhered to," he added.

He said Kibaki should have been consulted before the letters were issued. Speaking separately, Ainamoi MP Benjamin Langat told off the US over the ban threat.

Mr Langat said the US was setting a bad precedent, adding such an action would not end impunity.

"The US should respect Kenya as a sovereign state," Langat said in a statement to The Standard.

"Who will die if he does not go to the US? Who said the ban will knock sense into those targeted and make them steer reforms?" he added.

The MP said US officials were engaging in a witchhunt ahead of the 2012 General Election.

"When diplomats are allowed to play politics like US Ambassador Michael Ranneberger, the ill advised travel bans are exactly what we reap," Langat claimed.

Separately, Education Assistant Minister Calist Mwatela accused the US of meddling in the affairs of Kenya.

Mwatela alleged Ranneberger was misleading President Obama about Kenya.