Mr. Arthur Amaya Andambi: When you meet him, he has all the qualities of an Ambassador but, he is the Deputy to Purity at the Embassy. Officially, his title is “First Secretary”, the second most pwerfull man at the Kenyan Embassy. If horses were wishes, KSB personnel would wish that Mr. Andambi take over as the boss at the Embassy when Purity is eventually recalled because he probably has what it takes to change the situation at the Kenyan Embassy.
If you have never met him, Andambi is a very open kind of guy although he hasn’t reached the level of former diplomat Julius Mwandembo. The former diplomat beats him because he used to attend Kenyan functions and if you were not updated, you could think that he is just another Kenyan in Stockholm loitering around looking for them Mapepe. The guy could invite you to his villa (just like the late Kiboi) to fix you with anything. Mwandembo had his own problems when he over-mixed with Wakenya but on the whole, he had very high scores at the time of his departure. Sam Pippo have theorized that Mwandembo may have been schooled in intelligence although this is a side issue at the moment.
Andambi is known to pose as a Christian and has even been captured by KSB’s paparazzis preaching at a religious forum. It is therefore assumed that his belief in Jesus Karast does not allow him to make enemies regardless of what KSB is saying about the Kenyan Embassy. At least, Andambi is approachable, diplomatic and can dodge a difficult question “diplomatic style” without being offensive. In other words, he knows his diplomacy. He is like George Kinywa who also enetered the scene through the church and literally built what is today called the Bagarmossen church. Andambi is known to be close to a very progressive Kenyan Pastor but information about any joint work has not been forthcoming.
From another perspective, it might as well be that Andambi is not so diplomatic with subordinate Embassy staff but when he is in the public domain, he tends to send out signals of a personality at ease with himself, friendly, convivial and a lover of children. If you meet Andambi in the company of your child, you ought to be sure that he will give the child a lot of attention (while trying to talk to you at the same time).
Playing with a child is a very common way of getting to the psyche of the parent and Andambi knows this quite well. This is good because as a diplomat, Mr. Andambi needs to find a way of handling members of his constituency who are Kenyans. Unfortunately, Purity lacks these qualities. She is more reserved and although she is stylish, her rather sophisticated approach to Kenyans normally tend to backfire because the accompanying theatrics makes her unavailable to her would be fans.
There is no doubt that some Kenyans love Purity, not because of the way she does her job but because they like being close to power and the Ambassador transmits this power because she is the rep of the President of the Republic, whether you like it or not. Unfortunately, Purity does not yet understand this dynamic. Her PR is very poor, her attitude towards Kenyans is reserved while her demeanor is too official for socialism. But let us get back to Andambi.
At the Jamhuri day, it was much easier to see Andambi talking to different Kenyans than Purity who preferred to talk to the diplomats she knew and whom she meets in other forums. On several occasions, KSB followed Purity as she mingled with the crowd in order to get some strategic shots for the archive.
She tended to stop to speak with her foreign gusts than Kenyans and this was very obvious. Whenever she spoke to a Kenyan, she tended to be in a hurry but relaxed when a white face surfaced. She needs to improve on this. It was very embarrassing when a Kenyan lady literally begged Purity for a photo opportunity but she refused, saying that they would take it up “another time”. Honestly, when will this time come because Purity is as scarce as gold.
Kenya Embassy as a statue in the city
The Kenyan lady was well dressed and she wanted a shot for memory but was let down. When Raila came to Stockholm, almost anybody who wanted a shot got his/her doze and what you needed to do was just to get close to him and shout “Osewe, chukua moja hapa” and that was it. I did not actually know what to say when Purity walked away because I had lifted my camera hoping that Purity would rise to the occasion and accord this lady her little wish. Naturally, I could not help thinking that the reason why she refused was because Osewe (enemy number one) was the one taking the snap! How then can this lady support Purity when she is under attack at KSB? The lady even tried to get Purity’s hand but she just bolted off. To be modest, it was utterly disgusting!
Whether or not Andambi will take over at the Embassy is a matter of “wait and see”. It depends on whether he has some Godfathers in Nairobi because in Kenya, to land an Ambassadorial post, there must be some fat cat in government lobbying the President and for Purity, it was Lucy Kibaki, first Lady, who has now gone underground since her numerous public gaffes that saw her storm the Daily Nation Newspaper to protest against negative publicity.
A source told KSB that the reason why Purity has not been recalled is because she is still working out a better redeployment plan when she quits the Embassy and things have not been easy. Lucy has lost political influence under the Coalition government, her movements restricted and her strategic contacts in government cut to reduce her leavers of control.
For this reason, Purity is experiencing difficulties because she has to go through other contacts not as influential as Lucy. For now, Kenya-Stockholmers will have to wait for the day of Purity’s departure because until that happens, there is likely to be no change at the Kenyan Embassy.
Likewise, Andambi can offer some hope but as many Kenyans might be aware, hope alone cannot change a bad situation. Some real action must take place on the ground. The question is whether KSB needs to write to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make some recommendations and whether those recommendations can be acted upon.
Without a working relationship between Kenyans in Stockholm and the Kenyan Embassy, the Mission is just like another statue standing in the midst of Stockholm city. This is pathetic but Kenyans here will have to live with it for some time.
Okoth Osewe
About the Author
Purity will never be sociable among the majority of Kenya-Stockholmers because she assumes an upperclass attitude (Kenyan style), hence looks down upon them. The only thing remaining is for KSB to keep hammering her by exposing her crude nature like this embarrassing situation when the Kenyan lady wanted to pose for a photo with her.
KSB: Well said.
I wish we could read WikiLeaks disclosures on the Kenya-Stockholm Embassy, especially on how the whites regard Purity their bootlicker. Such a character is a darling among the whites, because she thinks she has their skin color and rejects fellow black Kenyans.