Embassy Cancels Meeting With Raila After Ruto Refused to Attend

A meeting planned by the French Embassy and which was to be attended by CORD chief Raila Odinga among other leaders was cancelled after Deputy President William Ruto and some Jubilee bigwigs declined invitations.

The meeting that ought to have been hosted at the Alliance Francaise located a few metres from the Anniversary Towers was meant to provide a platform for the political leaders to discuss the future of the embattled Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

However, according to the Director of the Alliance Francaise, Herve Braneyre, the embassy resolved to cancel the meeting after the DP and his team confirmed their absence.

"The French Embassy said if there were some political leaders to take part in an event, the political plurality of Kenya had to be represented. We could not have one political opinion. We needed to have people from Jubilee and CORD. It seems that it was not possible for the organisers to get people from all the different groups and for that reason, the meeting was cancelled," Braneyre was quoted by the Standard.

Other persons invited included 2013 Presidential candidates; James ole Kiyiapi, Paul Muite, Martha Karua, Peter Kenneth, Musalia Mudavadi who had confirmed attendance except Mr Kenneth.

Mr Braneyre noted that the location of the Alliance Francaise could have worked against the preparations as the IEBC headquarters were a stone throw away.

"The Alliance Francaise is in a very sensitive place (right next to the Anniversary Towers in Nairobi, the headquarters of the IEBC), and there has been violence just in front of it... it is one of the reasons that the embassy considered," he stated.

The French Government had also invited representatives of the electoral body for the same debate but indicated that they had pending commitments.

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