A general uproar has erupted in Stockholm over a selective invitation of Kenyans to this year’s Kenyatta day reception scheduled for Saturday 20th October. Serious concerns have been raised by Kenyans who have contacted KSB to charge that the Kenyan Ambassador to Scandinavia is discriminating against certain members of the community using the Kenyatta day invitations.
According to Pastor Beatrice Kamau who has not been invited together with numerous members of her congregation, the Kenyan Ambassador to Scandinavia Mrs Purity Muhindi is playing a hopeless game of divide and rule using the Kenyatta day invitations.
“Each and every action of the Ambassador provokes a negative reaction and Kenyans should petition the government to recall Ambassador Purity because she has become a major source of headache to Kenyans in Scandinavia”, Pastor Beatrice told KSB.
She said that Jamhuri is a National day and that all Kenyans should have been invited to the reception irrespective of their stations in life.
Last week, letters were sent to “strategic Kenyans” inviting them to the function and now, Kenyans who were left out are fighting back.
Kenyans like Mr. Mark Gaya, former Chairperson of Kenya United Welfare Association (KUWA) has not been invited. At a well attended fund raising Party that was hosted by Beryl Otumba last Saturday, a KISS agent (Ksb Intelligence Secret Services) who was posted at the function reported that several Kenyans complained that they had not been invited. Kenyans reportedly took turns to attack the Ambassador as they exchanged snippets of conversations, accusing her of intolerance, discrimination and open bias.
Joseph Munene aka Nzoro, a Kesofo committee member and founding member of the children’s organization, M.A.D (Making A Difference) has also not been invited. Some militant Kenyans have said that they will gate-crash at the reception, arguing that the Ambassador has no right to decide who attends and who doesn’t attend the Kenyatta day reception.
They urged an Executive committee member of the Kenya Social Forum (Kesofo) who was present at the Beryl function on a private capacity to take up the matter with the organization’s Committee with a view to making the grievances of Wakenya known to the Embassy.
An Official at the Embassy who came into contact with another KISS agent but who did not want to be quoted, said that the Embassy tried to invite Kenyans who made noise last year during the Jamhuri Day reception thinking that by inviting them, the issue of invitations would not be raised in the case of Kenyatta day.
During that period, members of ODM-Scandinavia (former ODM-KS) stormed the Jamhuri reception at a Stockholm Hotel and walked in without problems.
A cross section of ODMS members who were interviewed said that they had been invited although there are others who said that they were not interested in Jamhuri day because the day no longer carries any meaningful significance to Kenya’s history.
The invitations, although an innocent gesture by the embattled Ambassador Purity, is likely to be highly politicized in an already charged atmosphere that has been very hostile to Purity.
Current attacks directed at the Embassy comes barely a week after the Mission faced scathing attacks following the delay of the Passport of Mrs Anna Okoth, a Kenyan national, who had to open a struggle before the Kenyan government could issue her with her travel document.
Anna’s beef was that the Embassy had failed in following up her Passport application forcing her to open a struggle which was characterized by virulent attacks on President Mwai Kibaki, the Kenyan Ambassador and the Kenyan government. She collected her Passport from the Embassy last Monday.
Okoth Osewe
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