President Uhuru Kenyatta and US President Donald Trump at the G7 summit in Italy previously. [Photo/Tuko.co.ke]
NASA leader Raila Odinga’s adviser Salim Lone now says that Donald Trump’s administration is a critical contributor to the Kenyan political impasse.
In a statement released on Thursday moments after Raila Odinga rubbished US calls for dialogue with President Uhuru Kenyatta, Salim Lone expressed his astonishment with the a series of reactions from the US.
His statement was provoked by comments made by the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Donald Yamamoto during his visit in Nairobi in a bid to lay grounds for negotiation between the Jubilee and NASA outfits which are now at loggerheads.
Lone appreciated the fact that the US recognizes that Kenya country has been deeply polarized and divided since the August poll which was annulled based on irregularities and illegalities by the Supreme Court on September 1.
“The US recognizes that our country has been deeply polarized and divided since the rigged and subsequently annulled August election. To help overcome these dangerous divisions, our friends and partners should begin by looking at what caused the polarization and what is needed to rectify them,” he noted.
He continued: “Instead of focusing on those causes and possible solutions, the US has decided that an event (the Odinga inauguration) that has yet to take place is the imminent danger Kenya faces.”
Salim Lone took issue with the US reaction saying they would have first unearthed what the planned December 12 event entails instead of crusading for constitutionalism.
Earlier on Thursday, the National Super Alliance leader Raila Odinga vowed to soldier on with his inauguration plan, slamming the US over calls for dialogue and constitutional adherence.
Odinga maintained that he does not recognise Uhuru Kenyatta as the country’s president and that his oath will rely on the August 8 election results.
“We don’t recognise the swearing-in (Uhuru Kenyatta’s). We will go by the results of August 8 elections in which Kenyans expressed their will,” Odinga said.
Through his Thursday statement, Lone regretted that the US failed to address police brutality that reigned in recent weeks.
“Police brutally attacked NASA supporters while they are assembling peacefully, so this US stand on the swearing in will have further emboldened the regime to once again use on Tuesday the murderous tactics that have been on display recently,” he noted.
The Raila Odinga adviser claimed that the US was taking calculated partisan positions which disrespected a majority of Kenyans.
“The US statement should have been aimed at building bridges between Kenyans and their two main parties, rather than taking partisan positions which disrespected and further angered more than half our population.”
He further questioned why the US failed to see “major crimes” committed by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“The Uhuru Kenyatta regime is not explicitly criticized in the statement for any of the major crimes that have been committed. The subversion of both elections is not even mentioned. Neither are the attacks and the threats by Uhuru Kenyatta against the Supreme Court justices, which led to the Court not holding a pivotal hearing on the legality of the Oct 26th election,” Lone lamented.
Lone regretted that the US avoided discussing the killing of NASA diehards. He wondered why a powerhouse of its stature together with its record of entrenching human rights across the globe lacked interest in Kenya’s political upheaval this year.
“The worst of the many crimes that the US statement did not touch on was the killing of scores of innocent, unarmed NASA supporters in a reign of terror designed to intimidate NASA-leaning communities.”
He castigated the US for having a soft spot on Uhuru Kenyatta’s regime claiming thaty all this was vested in self-interests.
“In this recent period, we have seen the US take a very short-sighted as well as opportunistic approach which exclusively focuses on security and business interests,” he stated.
According to Salim Lone, the US supportive hand towards the ruling Jubilee was clear in the run up to the August election.
“Western envoys repeatedly ignored the evidence NASA presented of rigging plans underway at the IEBC. The envoys instead urged NASA to respect independent institutions like the IEBC, regardless of the fact that it was drowning in fraud and deceit,” he said.
He reminisced the brutal torture and killing of IEBC ICT chief Chris Msando days before the election.
NASA insists that the outcome that counted for the Presidential race was the one on August 8.
Lone noted; “Even if one doesn’t accept that the amount of proven fraud meant that Raila Odinga had won that election, then the refusal by the IEBC to heed the Supreme Court order to open the server should settle the matter.”
NASA called on the US to reassess its approach towards the Kenyan political dilemma.