Minister summons UK envoy
Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang’ula has summoned British high commissioner Adam Wood over his country’s stand on the disputed presidential election results. The minister held a two-hour closed-door meeting with Mr Wood in his office following a statement in the House of Commons attributed to a deputy minister for State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Ms Meg Munn, saying the British Government did not recognise President Kibaki as the winner of the December 27 presidential race.
More than 600 people have died and over 250,000 displaced in post-election violence. The chairman of the Electoral Commission of Kenya, Mr Samuel Kivuitu, who declared President Kibaki as the victor, has since said he was not sure who won the presidential election. Mediation process Last week, Ms Munn was quoted saying: “Our Government has not recognised the (Kibaki) Government and is calling on both leaders to cooperate in the process of mediation.” Yesterday, Mr Wetang’ula expressed the Government’s “deep displeasure” with the statement, saying it had forced him to summon Mr Wood to his office. Said the minister: “The issue of our elections is not a subject to be debated in a foreign parliament!” He was addressing a media conference at his office after the closed-door meeting in his office.
The minister said Kenya and the UK had strong diplomatic ties since independence but was shocked to read the remarks in the media instead of receiving an official communication from the British Government through the Kenyan high commissioner in London, Mr Joseph Muchemi.
Mr Wetang’ula said President Kibaki was ready for dialogue with ODM leader Raila Odinga through an international mediation team led by former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan. But the minister, who is a member of the 10-person negotiation team named by President Kibaki to meet their ODM counterparts, said the Government would not welcome “unhelpful remarks” from any quarter that was not aimed at enhancing its diplomatic relations. Mr Wetang’ula announced he was expecting to get a feedback from the British high commissioner tomorrow about UK’s official position on the disputed presidential election.
Official statement
He told journalists that the envoy had asked him for more time to get an official statement from London on the controversy. Reminded that the European Union Parliament also debated the Kenyan polls controversy last week before the House of Commons followed suit, Mr Wetang’ula, who is the Sirisia MP, said what the Government was concerned about was the British deputy State minister’s categorical statement that “our government has not recognised the (President Kibaki) Government and is calling on both sides to cooperate in the process of mediation.” But the minister was hard-pressed to explain why all the reports filed by local and international election observers after the December 27 polls were unanimous that the elections were flawed and fell below the internationally accepted standards.
On the international mediation efforts to resolve the political crisis in the country, the minister said the Government was going into the talks with “an open heart and open mind.”
http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=1&newsid=115125
Next entry: No let-up in Kenya violence, UN reports
Previous entry: Give Annan a chance