Obama's Kenya 'honeymoon' ends abruptly after graft rebuke

NAIROBI (AFP) — Less than a week after welcoming him as a returning hero in his father's homeland, the Kenyan government hit back at US Senator Barack Obama for a blistering rebuke of official corruption.

A day after the rising American political star used a nationally televised address to deliver an attack on rampant graft, President Mwai Kibaki's administration dismissed the lawmaker as "immature" and an opposition "puppet."

Obama's blunt criticism, in which he said corruption had plunged Kenya into "crisis," made front-page news and drew praise from some commentators but government spokesman Alfred Mutua voiced deep displeasure with the remarks.

"It is now clear that he was speaking out of ignorance and does not understand Kenyan politics, we earlier thought he was mature in his assessment of Kenyan and African politics," Mutua told AFP.

"We forgive him because it is his first time in the Senate and he is yet to mature into understanding issues of foreign policy," he said.