Posted
on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By
William Yaw Owusu
Monday,
August 07, 2017
The Campaign Manager of the ruling New Patriotic
Party (NPP), Peter Mac Manu, over the weekend had a tug of war with authorities
in Kenya after the East African country denied him entry.
He was leading a team of Democratic Union of Africa
(DUA) International Observers to monitor Kenya’s general election which is
scheduled to take place tomorrow, August 8 when the unfortunate incident
occurred.
Former President John Mahama, a friend of Kenyan
President, Uhuru Kenyatta, who was once called ‘President of Ghana’ in one
of Ghana’s independence anniversary brochures - is heading a Commonwealth
Election Observer’s Mission.
Mr. Mac Manu, a vice chairman of the DUA, in the
company of his research assistant, Evans Nimako, disembarked at the Jomo
Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi but the authorities made sure the two
returned with the next available flight.
The Kenyan authorities fear that Mac Manu, who was
to monitor the elections, would train the opposition on the parallel collation
of results to avoid rigging as the then opposition NPP in Ghana did to thwart
the rigging ploy of National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Earlier last week, the alleged
tortured body of Chris Msando, the Electoral Commission’s IT head responsible
for overseeing the electronic transmission of results, was found in a forest
outside Nairobi.
The local Kenyan media were inundated with reports
that apart from Mac Manu, two United States Embassy officials and a Canadian
were also asked to leave the country.
The US Embassy in Nairobi confirmed that two foreign
nationals working for the opposition were deported.
In a tweet, the US Embassy in Nairobi said an
American and a Canadian had been detained Friday.
“They’re safe & departing Kenya,” it added.
James Orengo, a senior official in the National
Super Alliance (NASA) - opposition coalition being led by candidate Raila
Odinga - named the two as John Aristotle Phillips, an American, and Andreas
Katsouris, a Canadian.
Phillips is believed to be chief executive officer
of Aristotle Inc, a Washington-based data mining firm and political
consultancy, while Katsouris is a senior vice president in the company.
Orengo described the two men as “friends from Canada
and the United States,” adding, “Both of them were sharing their experiences
with us.”
He said, “The police invaded their apartment where
they were living in Westlands, a Nairobi neighbourhood.”
The deportations and denials of entry come as the
opposition claimed police late Friday raided a party tally centre in Westlands
where a parallel vote count was due to be conducted.
Mr Orengo alleged that all the incidents are part of
a government plan to undermine the opposition’s ability to verify results from
national elections due on August 8.
“This should be seen in the context that yesterday
was like an operation, not simply (targeting) this national centre, but looking
for everybody who would want to work with us,” he noted.
Kenya’s police chief has denied that any such raid
took place.
Mac Manu returned Saturday morning and was said to
have been met on arrival at the Kotoka International Airport by some officials
of the NPP.
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