American flags at Raila welcome were unpatriotic, North Rift leaders say

A man with a US flag is kicked out of Uhuru Park by police during the reception ceremony for CORD leader Raila Odinga. [PHOTO: MBUGUA KIBERA/STANDARD]

Elgeyo Marakwet, Kenya: A section of leaders in the North Rift region have expressed dissatisfaction with the waving of American flags during the grand welcoming of opposition leader and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga back to the country citing lack of partriotism.

The welcoming of Raila was punctuated by mammoth crowds of Coalition of Reforms and Democracy (CORD) supporters who marched across Nairobi city waving American flags and placards marked ‘Uhuru Must Go’.

Marakwet East MP Kangogo Bowen termed the chants and foreign flag waving as immature and demeaning to the country and in the same tone telling off those wishing to oust President Uhuru Kenyatta from the top seat.

“It should be known that there is no vacuum in this country, we have a president and his deputy is around too, utterances asking Uhuru to leave power are baseless and won’t destabilise our country,” he said.

Kangogo said the welcoming rallies were planned by the opposition to polarise the country and set the public in an election mood for no reason.

“The rallies do not re-energise Raila at all, his time to rule the country is over and the best we can do for him is to prepare him a substantial retirement benefit reward so that he can rest from politics,” he added.

The legislator said that the waving of American flags clearly indicated that Raila was a candidate of the Western countries who are disgruntled with the Kenya’s move to look East for development matters.

“I definitely blame the West for all the turbulence in the country, these rallies, University students’ riots and other health workers are not based on anything true, they are fabricated and funded by the people who want Uhuru to look as if he is not up to the task,” he explained.

Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen said that as far as it is the right of the opposition to speak to the electorate and have peaceful rallies, patriotism should be a priority.

He said the waving of the American flags clearly confirms that CORD has no plan to promote patriotism and our
country which gained independence long time ago.

“It is unfortunate to use flags of a different flag especially when there is suspicion that the opposition is being funded by the West to criticise the country’s leadership,” he said.

According to Murkomen such actions insinuate that the West has a part in all these even if it were not the real matter.

“The opposition needs to invest more in positive criticism and not demean a nation that acquired its independence more than fifty years ago, the deals we are having with any foreign country are symbiotic and it should not look like we are unstable to develop ourselves,” he added.

He dispelled the chants of ‘Uhuru must go’ saying that Kenya has a President in charge and asked the opposition must wait until 2017 to sell their manifesto to the citizens.

Uasin Gishu Deputy Governor Daniel Chemno echoed Murkomen’s sentiments that the West can be seen as the financier of such rallies that aim at insinuating that the country’s leadership is unwell.

“We all the piper to play our tunes, the waving of the American flags shows that Raila’s three months in the United States has everything to do with all these rallies,” he said.

Chemno said that chanting the ousting of the president does not change anything as Uhuru took over power through garnering sufficient votes and not demonstrations and the opposition needs to wait for their time.