Obama's Kenya contradictions If the US wants to get help in the fight against terrorism in Africa, it should stop putting pressure on Kenya's leader

can the Obama administration preserve Kenya's co-operation on counterterrorism efforts in the Horn of Africa and also pressure its leaders into undertaking democratic and economic reforms?

Things started off well between Kenya and Barack Obama. Kenya was thrilled to see the son of one of its citizens reach the Oval Office. And it does not seem as though many Kenyans took personally Obama's choice of Ghana instead of their country as his first presidential destination in Africa. Kenyan prime minister Raila Odinga even said: "If Obama were to come to Kenya as the first country in Africa, it would send some very wrong signals that he is coming here merely because of some organic relationship that he has with this country. So in fact it is good."

Even if some East Africans perceived a slight, the Obama administration more than compensated for it when Hillary Clinton visited Kenya first on her August Africa tour. The trip emphasised Kenya's economic and political importance to the US. Moreover, on day two of Clinton's stay, she drew a symbolic and visual link between the US, Kenya, Somalia and terrorism when she met with Somali president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed in Nairobi and paid her respects at the site of the 1998 US embassy bombing. There, according to the New York Times, Clinton "quietly laid a wreath at the foot of a plaque commemorating the people killed that day, and she told a group of Kenyan survivors, including an old blind man leaning on a cane, 'We will continue to work with you'."

And work together the two countries must. Whatever form American counterterrorism efforts in East Africa take, they will involve and affect Kenya. As the US sends more arms and aid to Somalia in an attempt to bolster the fragile Transitional Federal Government against al-Shabab, the rebel movement designated as a terrorist group by the US state department, Kenya is feeling al-Shabab's regional reach. Somali jihadists recruit ethnic Somalis resident in Kenya as well as native-born Kenyans. In a stark illustration of the Somali-Kenya terror connection, the recent US helicopter raid on an al-Shabab convoy in Somalia targeted a terrorist suspect named Saleh Ali Nabhan. Nabhan was Kenyan, not Somali.

But the raid caused a problem. Despite Kenya's importance, the Obama administration did not coordinate with authorities there prior to the strike. Nairobi noticed. Moses Wetangula, the Kenyan foreign minister, told Reuters that "Lone Ranger behaviour" from the US raises concerns in Kenya, and that he was uncomfortable with "the fact that the US would want to conduct operations in our neighbourhood without information or cooperation or collaboration."

Another problem, compounding the first, is that the US openly proclaims its loss of faith in a section of Kenya's political leadership. During her visit in August, Clinton criticised Kenya's track record on democracy, economic reform and judicial integrity. That "tough but lovingly presented" message was followed by tough action in September, when the state department said it would impose travel bans on 15 senior Kenyan ministers if they did not implement reforms on corruption and rights abuses. Statements by American diplomats suggest the US may take further steps if reform does not proceed rapidly enough.

Senior government officials in Nairobi were divided in their reactions to the travel ban. President Mwai Kibaki bristled at the move, while Odinga felt the US was justified. The official governmental reaction, though, turned increasingly hardline in the days after the announcement of the ban, with a government spokesman denouncing America's "activism diplomacy".

The condescending tone Washington uses toward its African partners may prove increasingly inimical to US policy goals on the continent. Getting the bad guys is a stated US interest. So is promoting democracy around the world. The question in East Africa is, can both happen at once? The Obama administration's posture toward Kenya seems contradictory, as Washington expects cooperation but cajoles and denounces those with whom it would collaborate.

With a drought in northern Kenya killing crops, animals and people, the country's leaders face enormous domestic pressure, to say nothing of instability emanating from Somalia, Sudan and Uganda. Kenyan elites may conclude they have little to gain from heeding the dictates of an ally that doesn't give them notice when it bombs terrorists in their backyard. To keep their attention – and make real progress in both counterterrorism and reform efforts in East Africa – American leaders should speak a little more softly, and think a little more carefully about the kinds of sticks they wield.