Privacy hedge on visa bans hides political sins

Hillary Clinton’s confirmation remarks as US Secretary of State may have dwelt too briefly on Africa, but her office’s recent use of Presidential Proclamation 7750 shows high-level interest in supporting Kenya’s war on corruption.

We wish it were clear, however, just what the US has done and why. Proclamation 7750 (better known as the Kleptocracy Initiative travel ban), issued by George W Bush in January 2004, has been used to prohibit corrupt officials from entering the US. At least 13 Kenyan public officials and their families are believed to have had travel restrictions placed on them under this directive. However, who they are and what they did remains a matter of conjecture.