Kenya investigated Obama 'African birth'

Emmanuel Kisombe

Documents obtained by WND indicate the Kenyan government investigated the possibility that President Obama was born in the East African nation.

Two letters purportedly written by Kenya's immigration secretary during the 2008 U.S. presidential election campaign stated that officials in Nairobi could not find evidence Obama was born in Kenya. But the official said the government had "information" that relevant birth records may have been removed or were missing.

Emmanuel Kisombe, the permanent secretary in the Ministry for Immigration and Registration of Persons, wrote a letter in July 2008 in reply to a letter from the U.S. ambassador in Nairobi that raised the possibility with Kenyan officials that Obama was born in their country.

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Kisombe wrote another letter on the issue, this time to Kenya's Criminal Investigation Department, a few days before the Nov. 4 presidential election in the U.S.

Kisombe, 56, has been in public service since 1979, according to his bio. He became principal administrative secretary in the Office of the President in 2004 and was appointed permanent secretary for Immigration and Registration of Persons on Dec. 7, 2005.

His Oct. 22, 2008, letter to Simon Karanja Gatiba, director of the Criminal Investigation Department, indicated an investigation into the possibility Obama was born in Kenya was instigated at the level of the Kenyan Cabinet.

Kisombe wrote to Gatiba:

We have instructions from the Head of Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet carrying out directions of the Cabinet sub-committee on Security and Foreign Relations to investigate and report on efficacy of reports that Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic Party aspirant in the United States could be Kenyan-born.

Kisombe said the Kenyan government investigation was prompted by "numerous intelligence reports that [Obama] might have been born in Mombasa at the Lady Grigg Maternity Wing of the Coast Provincial Hospital."

Kisombe noted that the Kenyan government's inability to find Obama birth records was not conclusive, because "the information we in the ministry have is that some documents have been removed by unknown persons at unknown dates or are missing from birth registry records thus denting the prospects of uncovering the facts of this matter."

He wrote:

This tampering, if confirmed, constitutes a serious offense that is punishable by law and it behooves your office to track down the culprits and bring them to justice. My officers have been instructed to fully cooperate as the Kenya Police Criminal Investigation Department performs this task.

Here is the entirety of the Kisombe letter:

According to the letter's second page, copies were to be distributed to the following government offices:

A July 4, 2008, letter by Kisombe to U.S. Amb. Michael Ranneberger in Nairobi, marked "Confidential," was a response to an inquiry from the U.S. regarding the possibility that Obama had birth records in Kenya.

Kisombe replied that there were no records to indicate Obama was born in "the geographic confines of what is now known as the Republic of Kenya."

However, the Kenyan official said he could not say whether any documents or files "from the births registry at the Coast Provincial General Hospital are missing or tampered with."

Ranneberger, who was appointed to the Kenya post by President Bush in 2006, has been reassigned to Washington and reportedly is flying back to the U.S. today.

Ranneberger made many friends across Kenya but ran afoul of some politicians who accused him of meddling in Kenyan politics as he pressed for reforms. In cables released by Wikileaks late last year, he accused President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Raila Odinga of impeding reform, prompting a member of Parliament to file a censure motion against him.

President Obama has nominated retired Air Force Major Gen. Scott Gration, his current envoy to Sudan and one of his top military advisers, to replace Ranneberger.

The text of Kisombe's letter to Ranneberger reads, in part:

Dear Ambassador Ranneberger,

RE: BIRTH RECORDS FOR SENATOR BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA.

Your letter of July 1, 2008 refers. I wish to confirm that there are neither records nor evidence held by my ministry or any departments thereunder that suggest that Senator Barack Hussein Obama was born within the geographical confines of what is now known as the Republic of Kenya. Further I am unable to confirm if any files from the births registry at the Coast Provincial General Hospital are missing or tampered with.

The letter's page 1:

The letter's page 2:

Kisombe did not reply to a WND request for comment, and Ranneberger was not immediately available because he is in the process of returning to the U.S.