Kenya’s Prime Minister, Raila Amollo Odinga, will be in Stockholm to attend an International Conference hosted jointly by the European Commission and the EU Presidency. The Conference begins on Thursday October 22nd and runs up to Sunday October 25th. PM Raila Odinga is listed as one of the key speakers at the Conference. The meeting will be open to the general public although a registration will be required.
Another key speaker from Kenya will be Ms Gladwell Otieno, a founding member of the Africa Centre for Open governance (AfriCog). Ms Gladwell is a name which rings a bell in the minds of millions of Kenyans because she was forced out of the leadership of Transparency International because of her opposition to corruption in the Kibaki government which took power following the December 2002 elections.
The Conference is titled “European Development Days 2009” and the Stockholm event will be the fourth edition since inauguration. The Conference is expected to bring together about 4,000 people and 1,500 organizations from the global development community.
According to a brief by the organizers, “The event aims to make development aid more effective, to build a global coalition against poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Through frank and sometimes controversial debates on pressing issues, such as governance, poverty and environmental sustainability, the European Development Days provide unprecedented opportunities for sharing ideas and launching innovative partnerships”.
“Anti Purity Petition” to be handed to PM Odinga
On the Kenya Stockholm scene, the presence of PM Odinga here is expected to put Ambassador Purity Muhindi on the spot light after a long period of absence especially at KSB where she was given a “News black-out” after being “written off” by many Kenya-Stockholmers.
This happened after she transferred Jamhuri day celebrations to Oslo and organizing petty meetings with Kenyans at Coffee shops in Denmark when she has never called such meetings in Stockholm. Web link to the Embassy site was pulled down from KSB as Kenyans awaited for Purity’s recall and the posting of a new Ambassador, a long wait that continues.
The problem with Purity is that she is afraid of Kenyans in Stockholm for some strange reasons. To underline the magnitude of this fear, she has arranged for this year’s Kenyatta day celebrations at Astoria Hall in Helsinki, Finland instead of organizing the event in Stockholm which is not only seen as the “capital city” of Scandinavia but is also the base of Kenya Embassy in Scandinavia. It is like the Kenyan government organizing Kenyatta day in Loitoktok for Kibaki to address Wananchi!
Purity has called the event on Saturday, 31st October instead of 20th October when the event will officially be celebrated in Kenya. It is the first time that Kenyatta day will be celebrated outside Stockholm and in Finland where there is a tiny population of Kenyans compared to Stockholm.
Some Kenyans are planning to hand Prime Minister Raila Odinga a petition signed by Kenyans and supporters demanding the recall of Ambassador Purity on grounds that she is ineffective, weak, unfocused and out of touch with Kenyans in Stockholm.
The Ambassador will be on the spot because she is expected to organize a meeting between the Prime Minister and Kenya-Stockholmers so that Wananchi here could have an opportunity to exchange notes with the Prime Minister especially on the burning political issues in Kenya. A Kenyan who spoke to KSB said that “We are also part of Kenya which the Prime Minister leads even though we are abroad” and that “It is important that Raila meets us”. This remains to be seen.
Raila was last in Stockholm in April 1998 when his defunct Party – the National Development Party (NDP) was cooperating with the government of former dictator Daniel arap Moi. Raila met Kenyans at Norrtullsgatan in Odenplan in a meeting that was chaired by the late Mr. Onyango Sumba who has just passed away in Kenya.
A tricky part of the Kenya bit of Raila’s Stockholm visit next week is whether he will accept to meet Kenyans here because last time, some Kenyans used foul language to address him because they were upset that he was cooperating with a dictator who was responsible for the murder of thousands of Kenyans and stealing of billions of Kenyan shillings through corruption.
When contacted, an official at the Prime Minister’s office in Nairobi could not confirm any engagements with Kenyans here although he promised to check and come back to KSB. When he arrives in Stockholm and in his capacity as a Prime Minister, Raila’s security will be on the hands of the Swedish authorities and what is known in such circumstances is that there is normally a well written script to be followed especially on his daily schedules.
In case he is interested in meeting Kenyans here, he has the power to slot a meeting in his official schedule otherwise it might be more complicated to change things once he arrives.
In the meantime, Kenyans who wish to attend the EU Development Days Conference must register in advance through THIS LINK. Personal information will be delivered to the Swedish police which will have to vet all participants attending the meeting.
Okoth Osewe
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