US Ambassador Responds To Raila Calling Off Protests

She further noted that the truce revealed in statements issued two hours apart from each other would help in coming up with solutions that benefit Kenyans.

Marvin Chege Marvin Chege
Apr 3, 2023 - 12:45 Updated: Apr 3, 2023 - 12:45
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US Ambassador Responds To Raila Calling Off Protests
Side by side image of US Ambassador Meg Whitman and Raila Odinga. /VIRALTEAKE

United States (US) Ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman on Monday, April 3 sent her reaction to a truce that was brokered between President William Ruto and Azimio la Umoja leader, Raila Odinga hours ago.

In a statement, the ambassador had welcomed the move for a truce, having been at the forefront of pushing for a dialogue between the two leaders.

She further noted that the truce revealed in statements issued two hours apart from each other would help in coming up with solutions that benefit Kenyans.

Raila Odinga and William Ruto when they met at Windsor hotel on June 29, 2022. /K24 DIGITAL

"We welcome the agreement by President Ruto and former PM Raila Odinga to establish a bipartisan process to find solutions that benefit all Kenyans.

"We commend both leaders for their commitment to peaceful dialogue and call on all parties to support this process," she stated.

Whitman however deviated from responding to Raila's verbal attacks on her on Friday, March 31 when he challenged her take on four out of six members of an electoral commission rejecting election results in a US setting.

Raila alleged that the international community would not have deemed that as transparent and fair, in an apparent attack on Whitman for alleging that the Kenyan 2022 election results were fair.

"The election commission consisted of seven members, the chairman and another member saying yes and four members saying no. I asked her that if that happened in America, that four members of the electoral institution rejected the results and two accepted them, would it be considered a free and fair election?" the former Prime Minister posed.

Raila turned his verbal guns on Whitman, exposing details of a private meeting with the ambassador where she asked him to accept the election results and stop the mass protests against the President William Ruto-led government.

He recounted that Whitman was appointed by the US President Joe Biden's administration as envoy to Kenya and had landed in the East African country days before the August polls.

“She was saying that Kenya had the most transparent election in the history of Kenya last year in August.

“I told her that she did not know what she was talking about. She was in the country a few days before those elections took place,” Raila stated.

Raila affirmed that Kenyans deserved to know what happened during the polls and to ensure that the same error was not replicated in future elections.

President Ruto had urged Raila to call off the weekly nationwide demonstrations while agreeing to reconstitute the selection panel for the IEBC through a bipartisan parliamentary process, which was one of Raila's demands during the demonstrations.

US Ambassador to Kenya, Meg Whitman speaking during the American Chamber of Commerce Regional Business Summit on March 30, 2023. /MINISTRY OF INVESTMENTS, TRADE & INDUSTRY

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