The US government has rubbished claims by Kenya’s opposition, NASA that it was bribed to support Jubilee government.
US Ambassador to Kenya Robert Godec said the narrative by NASA is false and a complete lie.
On Tuesday, a section of NASA MPs trained their guns on the US citing that they were bribed into supporting Jubilee through multi-billion the military aircraft deal and a contract to a US firm to redesign and expand the Mombasa-Nairobi highway.
However, Godec on Friday told the Star that “There is no basis for those claims.”
The envoy who came under fire from the opposition last weekend after urging Raila Odinga to recognize President Uhuru Kenyatta as the legitimate leader of the Kenyan people said the America’s call for dialogue between Jubilee and NASA had had no ulterior motive.
He said the Donald Trump led administration does not have preference on either Jubilee or NASA.
“The op-ed from the diplomats had three broad points. The first was that the government had taken certain actions – shutting down the TV stations, not complying with court orders, deporting an opposition politician Miguna Miguna – that are not consistent with the Constitution and the rule of law. We have deep concerns about them.
“The second point was that the opposition has also taken steps and actions which are not consistent with the Constitution and rule of law.
“We called on NASA to accept the election from 2017, which was endorsed and supported by the Supreme Court. The court ruled the election which took place on October 26 was valid. If you accept the rule of law, then you have to abide by that,” said Godec.
He underscored the need to have dialogue stating it is the only way to chart a way forward since political animosity deepened with the last general polls.
“The third point, which is also critically important, is that there needs to be a dialogue around the issues which Kenya has. Some of these challenges were clearly exacerbated by the last election,” Godec said as further quoted by the Star.
“There needs to be a conversation around protecting institutions — the IEBC, the Judiciary — and strengthening them. There needs to be a conversation about how to ensure that everybody across the entire country feels included, to be citizens, Kenyans. There needs to be a discussion around devolution, how do you strengthen it, dealing with the terrible problem of corruption and security sector reform.”
Since the nullification of the August 8 polls, Godec has been vocal calling on both factions to dialogue and end the impasse.