British High Commission in Nairobi has dismissed claims that High Commissioner Dr Christian Turner had taken sides in the just concluded presidential elections.
In a statement to the press, the British Foreign Office spokesperson Mr John Bradsaw said the allegations by the Jubilee Coalition against the diplomat are malicious and unfounded.
Mr Bradsaw also explained that the presence of the British military in Kenya is official and restricted to training activities in well-defined areas in agreement with the Kenyan authorities.
“British soldiers currently in Kenya are here as part of the regular training programme at British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) agreed with the Kenyan MoD. This routine exercise is completely unrelated to the Kenyan elections, and was planned nine months ago,” read the statement.
Mr Bradsaw further stated: “Claims of British interference, including by the High Commission, in the electoral process are entirely false and misleading.”
He further explained that British citizens engaged in the electoral process, including a 40 member observer delegation, were properly accredited by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
“Alongside six independent observer missions and representatives from the rest of the diplomatic community, the UK has had 40 electoral observers accredited by the IEBC observing the elections across the country,” the statement stated.
Further the British Foreign Office official reiterated that United Kingdom does not have any position on who is elected Kenya’s President and urged politicians to avoid making inflammatory statements and take disputes to court.
“The UK does not have a position on the question of how to handle the rejected votes. That is for the IEBC, and if necessary Kenyan courts, to determine,” the statement said.
Earlier the Jubilee coalition raised complaints over Dr Turner’s conduct, accusing him of interfering with the process.
“ The Jubilee Coalition is however, deeply concerned about the shadowy, suspicious and rather animated involvement of the British High Commissioner to Kenya Dr Christian Turner in Kenya’s 2013 General Election,” the statement read.
URP Chairman Francis Kaparo, addressing the press at the Bomas of Kenya, demanded that the rejected votes should be isolated in computing the final Presidential results.
“Counting the rejected votes is like walking to city mortuary and counting all dead bodies together with the living people,” Mr Kaparo stated.
He claimed that a parallel tallying by the Jubilee team had pointed to a strong Jubilee win.
“Even if they count the spoilt votes whether they like it or not we have won this elections. Let us just wait and see. It is round one for us,”he said.
At the same time Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Coalition for Reforms and Democracy relocated its base to Tipuana Gardens near the Bomas of Kenya from where its team would be monitoring the computation of results.
Source:nation.co.ke
