US President Donald Trump's administration has said it is
keenly watching President Uhuru Kenyatta and his rival Raila Odinga as they
prepare to face off in the repeat poll slated for October 17.
The US government has said it is closely monitoring the
developments in Kenya where it has high stakes economically and socially.
Through the US government’s Bureau of African Affairs,
Donald Trump's administration has called on Uhuru and Raila to meet and iron
out their differences ahead of the repeat polls.
“We’re not going to take our eyes away from it. Kenya
matters. If our largest embassy is in Nairobi, Kenya, that means we have a
stake in that country, and Africa has a stake, and this government is looking
at where the trend lines will go after October 17,” the bureau said on
Sunday, September 17 as quoted by Nation.
Trump's administration is concerned that the two leaders
have adopted hardliner stances that have escalated political temperatures among
Kenyans.
Raila and his NASA team have demanded removal of 12 IEBC
officials accused of bungling the August 8 election. But Uhuru and his Jubilee
team believe it is witch-hunt and wants the officials to oversee the repeat
polls.
The warning comes ahead of a meeting between the two
organised by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
The electoral body is set to meet Uhuru and Raila on
Wednesday, September 20, at the Bomas of Kenya, to find a solution to a
stalemate that has threatened the conducting of the fresh polls on October 17.
As reported by The Evening Post, IEBC is likely to change the date
after KIEMs kits provider OT-Morpho said it won't be ready by October 17 as it
has to reconfigure the kits.
US' statement also comes days after the Trump administration
issued a travel advisory to its citizens visiting Kenya over the planned repeat
polls.
The US government predicts that there is likely to be
violence during and after the election.
