Mudavadi under fire for siding with Suluhu after crackdown on Kenyan activists
Critics say sensible countries would go a mile to protect their citizens, regardless of the circumstances
Netizens have criticised Prime Cabinet Secretary and Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi for taking sides with Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu after she accused Kenyan activists of meddling with the country’s political affairs.
Nairobi Senator and ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna questioned Mudavadi’s stand as he castigated him for not respecting the rights of Kenyans.
”Our Minister for Foreign Affairs taking Tanzania’s side on the deportation of Kenyans is wild. Who put these people in power? Very useless,” Sifuna wrote on his X handle.
Other Kenyans on social media also raised eyebrows on why Mudavadi would openly support Tanzania, as they added that the remarks by the Tanzanian President were demeaning.
“For once, an incompetent, shameless, and part of the problem Kenyan government official has said what they’ve known all along. Kenyans seem to be overboard on commentaries on social media because they are trying to save themselves from their government,” Social Media User by the name P. Krazinski replied to a video of Mudavadi speaking during an interview with a local TV.
“They were arrested even before uttering a word in Tanzania, they did not even leave the airport. Save us your ignorance,” Mwatha Nganga stated.
According to Kenyans, Mudavadi should have defended them and not sided with Suluhu.
“Sensible countries would go a mile to protect their citizens, regardless of the circumstances. In Kenya, we have a prime cabinet secretary supporting a foreign president for detaining Kenyans. Kenya is now doing Suluhu Samia’s bidding. We used to be big. We’ve fallen so fast! “a social media user, Opiyo, stated.
While appearing for an evening interview at a local TV station, the Foreign Affairs CS defended Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu’s remarks on the arrest and deportation of Kenyan activists who had gone to give support to their opposition leader, Tundu Lissu, during his trial on Monday.
He claimed Samia’s remarks about Kenyans trying to interfere with their affairs have some truth, as she has been speaking from her observation of Kenyans’ conduct.
He claimed that Kenyans sometimes go overboard and are extreme.
“I will not protest on Suluhu’s remarks because I think there is some truth. Let us face a few facts. The level of etiquette, insults that we see in Kenya, even though we have the freedom of speech, is sometimes going overboard to some extent. She is saying people have sometimes gone to extremes in their utterances in Kenya, which is a fact,” Mudavadi said.
He added that Kenyans have lacked integrity and a ‘treatment’ for the cause of all this needs to be found.
“What we need to talk about is, can we get to the bottom of the treatment there…I am a Kenyan too, and the fact of the matter is that our approach and our utterances, because we are free in speech, have lacked in integrity,” he said.
On Monday, Suluhu warned Kenyan and other regional activists against destabilising her country.
