“Conspiracy Theory” between Kenya Embassy and Swedish Authorities To Deport The Kenyan Open Up Amid Tomb-Like Silence By Top Embassy Cats About The Case
The situation of a Kenyan who has been facing deportation to Kenya after his Swedish
citizenship was stripped by authorities here continue to oscillate between deportation to Kenya and dumping in Tanzania under new and mysterious circumstances.
Because the campaign to stop his deportation has entered a critical stage, the Kenyan has decided to go public with his plight and identity because he now believes that circumstances surrounding his deportation may be a conspiracy between the Swedish authorities and unscrupulous officials at the Kenyan Embassy in Stockholm.
Mr. Petersson Murimi Kinyua, the Kenyan, cannot understand why the Swedish police is offering him money so that he can accept to be deported from Sweden. When the deportation first ran into problems on Thursday 19th June, the Swedish police offered him 6,200kr if he could accept to be deported without resistance but when the plan failed after the legal aspects of the problem were brought before the Swedish authorities by concerned groups, the Swedes changed strategy.
They understood the difficulties of deporting the Kenyan back home because of his citizenship status and instead increased the amount he could be given so that he could be deported to Tanzania from where he was advised that he could cross over to Kenya but he refused.
Several things do not add up. Why does the Swedish government want to dump Mr. Petersson in Tanzania after failing to deport him to Kenya and even prepared to bribe him so that he can remain calm during deportation? Why is he not being charged before a court of law so that the crimes he may have committed can be scrutinized? Why has he been stripped of his Swedish citizenship in such a hurry and what criminal offences is he facing?
While answers to these questions are still not forthcoming, another issue is why the Kenyan Embassy has been unable to intervene on his behalf. According to Tonny Nilsson and Stefan Tilling, two police officers who are constantly in touch with the Kenyan and who are in charge of the case, the Kenyan Ambassador to Scandinavia H.E Mrs Purity Muhindi needs to contact them and explain why Mr. Petersson cannot be deported to Kenya and that such a contact would have a big impact on the case because it would officialize the fact that Mr. Petersson will not be accepted by the Kenyan government if he is deported to Kenya. KSB has phone numbers of both policemen.
The question which arises then is why the Embassy is foot dragging on making contacts with the police officers even after they have been informed about what they need to do by several interested persons and groups including the Kenyan himself and KSB. Mr. Daniel Kottut, the First secretary whom I spoke to about the matter, is either away from his phone or selects the phones to receive at the Embassy. The Kenyan Ambassador has been nonchalant while her Deputy, Jenifer Vivian Awuor has equally been out of reach.
INEXPLICABLE SILENCE BY KENYA EMBASSY
The conspiracy element between the Swedish authorities and the Kenyan Embassy comes about because the Swedes have, in their custody, a valid Kenyan Passport belonging to the Kenyan when the Kenyan Constitution dictates that Mr. Petersson should have lost his Kenyan citizenship (and his Kenyan Passport) when he took up Swedish citizenship.
The question is why the Embassy has refused to take contact with the Swedish authorities to enquire about the validity of the Passport with a view to annulling it because it is currently illegal for Kenyan citizens to hold two citizenships because the colonial style Constitution has not be changed.
If the Kenyan had the Passport before he became a Swedish citizen, then the matter is very simple. The Kenyan Constitution dictates that the Kenyan government should have cancelled the Passport making it invalid for travel. As we write, the Swedes have no other legal travel document to use in deporting the Kenyan apart from the Passport.
Once the Passport has been cancelled by the Kenyans (who could do it through the Immigration attaché at the Embassy in collaboration with the Kenyan government), the deportation of this Kenyan will be permanently blocked as circumstances surrounding the case are investigated. The question is: Why has the Embassy failed to do its duty with one key official even avoiding answering certain phone calls related to the case?
Last Thursday, the Embassy claimed that the Mission had written a letter to the Swedish authorities but that a copy of the letter could not be availed to Mr. Petersson because the Ambassador was away in Germany. What kind of communication transpired between the Embassy and the Swedes? There is fear that the Embassy’s inability to act on the case may be based on a communication that may have seen the Embassy give a go ahead for the Kenyan to be deported to Kenya.
When talking to KSB last week, Kottut insisted that the Embassy was “dealing with the matter” but when questioned on what the Embassy was actually doing, he ran out of answers and his voice started shivering on the phone before he went underground. Now, KSB cannot reach him and the receptionist has been left with the task of dodging phone calls on behalf of Kottut and company. Why?
An emerging theory is that the Embassy may have reached an agreement with the Swedish authorities on the Kenyan’s deportation before the matter came into the open and now, the Mission does not know what to do in the face of pressure. Unless the Embassy emerges from its “spider hole” to explain its position, suspicions and speculation (which may be right or wrong) will continue. If the Swedish authorities can approach the Kenyan with bribes so that he can help in his own deportation, could they have compromised the Embassy in some way? The Embassy is known to be corrupt and anything could have happened. What does our dear Lady Ambassador have to say, assuming that she is back from Germany?
Okoth Osewe
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