US ambassador to Kenya Kyle McCarter has spoken of his tenure in Kenya with the just concluded US elections.
Although it is not yet known who will be the next US President between incumbent Donald Trump (Republican) and Joe Biden (Democrat), he said the outcome of the elections could end his stay in Kenya.
Once again, McCarter who was appointed by Trump’s administration spoke of his love for Kenya saying that he at one time worked for charity in Tharaka Nithi County.
When the opportunity emerged in the US Embassy Nairobi, he asked the United States Office of Government Ethics for an opportunity to represent the US in Kenya.
This made him a political appointee of the Trump administration.
By law, should Trump be dethroned by Biden, McCarter’s tenure in Kenya will be reviewed afresh and a decision to retain or remove him be made by the new administration.
However, the US envoy said that his father was the first to come to Kenya in 1984 and when he accompanied him for the first time, he fell in love with the country.
“My father was there in 1984. He was a teacher. He started bringing in food and medicine. Three years later I came to replace him, built a medical clinic and a school,” he told Jeff Koinange on Wednesday in his weekly JKL show.
McCarter’s appointment as the US ambassador to Kenya was confirmed in January 2019.
Asked who he would have voted for, he said Trump who was his appointing authority.
Weighing in on Trump’s sentiments regarding mailed ballots, he agreed with his line of thought that mailed ballots which come a day after the election day should not be counted.
“There is a date set for the election and there is a time that the polling station closes. You can’t extend that,” Kyle McCarter argued.
Early Thursday morning, Biden extend his win with 264 electoral votes while Trump trailed with 214, international media reported.
Biden’s thrust came after wins in Wisconsin and Michigan even as Trump moved to court seeking to stop vote counting alleging “cheating”.
Biden is now shy of six electoral votes to hit the 270 threshold required for a candidate with popular votes to be declared the winner of the US Presidential Elections 2020.
