Fiery political analyst Prof Mutahi Ngunyi has joined a growing list of persons who feel displeasured by alleged “meddling” into Kenyan political affairs by foreign envoys.
On Wednesday, the analyst lambasted the envoys saying time has come for them to be silent and allow Kenyans get a solution to their political nightmares.
In a tweet that drew support intensely, Ngunyi stated: “For the first time, I agree with NASA. Mzungu diplomats should shut up or ship out. Uhuru and Raila are ours. And their fight is for Kenyans.”
His tweet comes against the backdrop of a joint statement by foreign envoys to Kenya led by US ambassador Robert Godec.
The envoys issued the statement on Monday after anti-IEBC protest rocked Nairobi and Nyanza areas where one man lost his life in Siaya County.
They said they are wary that violence may break out due to political differences between supporters of Jubilee and those of NASA which is championing the demonstration against IEBC.
NASA leader Raila Odinga maintains that his supporters will protest twice every week-Monday and Friday to push for reforms at the IEBC and to protest a raft of radical changes to Electoral Law championed by Jubilee.
Godec together with 14 other envoys castigated Jubilee for introducing amendments to the IEBC Act, Electoral Law and Election Offences Act just days before repeat polls.
“It is international best practice not to make changes to electoral laws without broad political agreement.
If everyone were to agree on changes that needed to be made, that would be fine but at the moment, we would encourage everyone to look at international best practice and work together to bring the election and make it free, fair and credible and peaceful and hold it in the constitutional manner,” said Godec in his statement.
Further, he said they are closely watching politicians from both factions and they will not hesitate to issue travel bans and deny them visas should they be found culpable of fanning violence through incitement and hate speech.
“We are watching what’s happening and if and when appropriate, we will take steps under US law to hold people accountable. There are many different potential measures we can take and I am not going to get into that speculation but I will say obviously visa bans and other travel measures are one possibility,” said Godec as told by Daily Nation.
On her part, United Kingdom’s deputy ambassador Susan Kitchens noted that: “We are also watching carefully and anyone who is found to be inciting or engaging in violence must be held accountable and that should be done by Kenyan institutions. We are following too and the UK reserves the right to take appropriate action which may include refusing visas.”
NASA leaders castigated the envoys and told them to keep off matters Kenyan politics.
Jubilee also rapped the envoys and told them they cannot dictate how Kenya handles or does her politics.
By Pharis Kinyua. He’s an online Journalist and an author for Jamhuri News.