Khalwale faults the President’s list of envoys

Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale (left) and Bungoma Governor Ken Lusaka at Bukhungu Stadium yesterday. [PHOTO: CHRISPEN SECHERE/STANDARD]

Kakamega; Kenya: Senator Boni Khalwale has said the list of ambassadors to Kenya’s missions abroad ignored the National Cohesion and Integration Act, which requires balance of ethnicity in public appointments.

The Kakamega senator cited the Luhya nation, which he argued has been taken for a ride for far too long as was manifest in the ambassadors’ list.

“Luhyas are just as educated and fit to hold public office like any other Kenyan. Everyone knows there is no position of Deputy Ambassador in our Constitution yet the President nominates one of us as a deputy ambassador,” Khalwale said.

The four names from the community are Richard Opembe for Dublin, Dr George Masafu for Kinshasa, Sophie Kadzo Kombo for Lusaka and Aggrey Shitsama, nominated as deputy ambassador for a yet undisclosed station. Khalwale further observed that all four nominees were being forwarded to ‘junior’ nations that do not matter much to Kenya as far as foreign relations are concerned.

He alleged that the Dublin station, set for Opembe, is in fact non-existent and wondered what Opembe was going to do at the empty Irish nation.

“What foreign relation does Kenya have with Ireland to warrant sending an ambassador to Dublin? That office is simply not there. Those who have studied geography can confirm that Kombo has been nominated to a junior nation, Masafu to a country full of civil strife while Shitsama’s position is unconstitutional,” he said.

Khalwale also said the President needs to work with the National Land Commission to clamp down on deaths caused by land disputes.

 SAME PUSH

He said the ‘Okoa Kenya’ campaign and the governors’ referendum are one and the same thing but the stages where they are being implemented differed.

“Do not be deceived, the governors and CORD leadership want the same thing it’s just that the governors are doing it through counties while we are taking it to a national platform,” he said.

Khalwale was speaking at Bukhungu stadium yesterday during the burial of seven victims of a road accident where a bus collided with a hearse along the Kisumu-Kakamega Highway.

He gave a bull to each family that lost a loved one and advised adherence to traffic laws.