Kenya Stockholm Blog

New Attack On Kenya Embassy Over Kenyatta Day

This week has been a ”Season of harvests” when it comes to attacks on the Kenyan Ambassador to Scandinavia Mrs Purity Muhindi and the Kenyan Embassy in general – thanks to a “defective invitation” of Wakenya to this year’s Kenyatta day reception scheduled for Saturday this week.

The latest salvo has been fired by Ms Josephine Ng’ang’a (Mama Wambui) who was very bitter that she has been left out of the Kenyatta day invitation loop despite the fact that she is a Kenyan citizen by birth.

“I am very bitter that the Ambassador has not invited me to Kenyatta day although I am a Kenyan citizen by birth”, Josephine told KSB. She disclosed that even her friend Mercy Wanjohi has also not been invited although she is a Kenyan Passport holder.

She said that from her own contacts, she has learnt that those who have been invited are mainly Swedish citizens who have nothing to do with Kenyatta day while many Kenyans have been left out.

Mama Wambui said that it was unfortunate that Kenyans who have abandoned Kenyan citizenship and taken up Swedish Passports were the first to be invited because of their connections to Embassy officials. “This is a scandal”, she said.

“Some of these Swedish citizens are heading bogus Kenyan political Parties in Sweden and although they cannot even vote in Kenya, they were the first to be invited by the Embassy”, she said.

KSB has learnt that numerous members of the Swedish diplomatic community are among the top guests invited.

Mama Wambui told KSB that she will gate crash at the reception because she is a Kenyan Passport holder. “I would like to meet and talk to this Ambassador”, she thundered on telephone.

“Kenyatta day is a day when Kenyans are supposed to enjoy. Kenyatta did not struggle for Swedes neither is Kenyatta day a Swedish National day. All Kenyans should have been invited to the function without discrimination”, she said.

According to Ms Jenipher Vivian Awuor, the condescending  Principle counsellor who routinely holds brief for the Ambassador during times of crisis, the Embassy does not have contacts of all Kenyans and so the Mission could not invite everybody. She said that not all Kenyans filled out the forms which were sent to them and in which the Embassy had requested personal contacts.

The forms were rejected by majority of Kenyans because the Embassy had also requested people’s birthdays and other sensitive information in a move that was seen by critics as connected to possible rigging of elections in case the Kenyan Constitution was amended to allow Kenyans to vote from abroad.

“We sent out letters to Kesofo (Kenya Social Network in Sweden) and we told them to tell Kenyans, Awuor said with a shimmer in her voice as she blamed KSB for the current predicament facing the Mission over the Kenyatta day invitations.

According to Mama Wambui, the Embassy could not claim that they did not have her contacts because she has, in the past, renewed her Passport at the Embassy by filling in an application form where she also wrote her address.

“If that is the case, they should have used the Internet. When Pastor Beatrice was wedding, she told Kenyans that she did not have contacts of all Kenyans and sent invitations through the Internet”, she countered.

She said that if a whole government Office like the Kenyan Embassy could not understand that it could use the Internet to reach Kenyans in Sweden, then the Ambassador (Purity Muhindi) is useless.

“At first, I supported this Ambassador because she is a woman like me but now, I have a very low opinion of her”, she declared, adding that the truth must be told when the government comes up with official nonsense.

She also warned leaders of Kenyan political Parties who had taken Swedish citizenship to “stop payukaring” because even if they travel to Kenya, they cannot vote since they have sold their citizenship. “They were the first to be invited to Kenyatta day but I challenge them to follow me to the frontlines to make a difference by voting”, she said.

Okoth Osewe

October 18, 2007 Posted by makozewe | News & Analysis | Leave a Comment