In a message that appeared to respond to an earlier statement by 11 Ambassadors and High Commissioners to Kenya, Prof James Ole Kiyiapi has indicated his discontentment with the arbitration by the envoys.
The 2013 presidential candidate accused the envoys of serving their own interests in the ingoing political situation.
"Western envoys are primarily about interests of their countries and therefore not impartial arbiters of the Kenyan political situation," Ole Kiyiapi indicated.
The envoys had asked Opposition leader Raila Odinga to recognize President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto as the duly elected leaders if at all he wished a national dialogue to take place.
WESTERN ENVOYS are primarily about INTERESTS of their countries and therefore NOT impartial arbiters of the Kenyan political situation. Let Kenyans navigate thru their own issues. We are tired of interventions that do NOT FUNDAMENTALLY change our governance matrix!
— Prof J. Ole Kiyiapi (@JamesOleKiyiapi) February 11, 2018
However, Ole Kiyiapi told off the envoys indicating that the interventions were unwelcome as they did not offer the desired outcomes for the Kenyan people.
"Let Kenyans navigate through their own issues. We are tired of interventions that do NOT FUNDAMENTALLY change our governance matrix!" his statement read.
The strong-worded statement by the 11 ambassadors partially seemed to reprimand Opposition leader Raila Odinga following the controversial mock oathing ceremony held at Uhuru Park.
"A father of multi-party democracy has made unsubstantiated claims about elections and unilaterally sworn himself as “President”, in deliberate disregard of the Constitution for which he so proudly fought," the envoys had expressed in reference to Odinga.
On his part, the NASA leader, who took oath as the "People's President", was quick to respond to the envoys questioning their mandate in giving directions on the Kenyan political affairs.
Addressing the victims of the Kijiji fire tragedy in Langata, Odinga thundered: "Hawa mabalozi waache unafiki. Wawache kuingilia mambo ya Kenya kwa ile njia ya ukoloni; ya ubeberu." (Let the envoys be honest. They should stop meddling with Kenyan affairs in a colonial way, the colonizer's way.)
"Haja yao tu ni kuangalia vile wanaeza kufanya biashara hapa ndani, na kunyakua na kupeleka kwao. Hawana haja na demokrasia. (Their interest [envoys] is in business and how they can benefit from here. They have no interest in democratic governance.)
"Wawache kuambia Wakenya Rais wa Kenya ni nani. Wakenya wenyewe wanajua." (They should stop telling Kenyans whom their President is, Kenyans know their President).
Raila concluded by noting that Kenya is an independent country and has never intervened in the United States', United Kingdom's or Germany's internal affairs adding that Kenyan problems will be resolved by the Kenyan people.
