Why I snubbed Kenya’s presidential re-run - Mahama narrates

Ex-President John Dramani Mahama has finally revealed his reason for failing to return to Kenya late last year for the Presidential rerun in that country.

According to him, the leader of the opposition Raila Odinga accused him of being an ally to President Uhuru Kenyatta doubted his fairness in monitoring the exercise.

It would be recalled that ex-president John Dramani Mahama led a 15-member Commonwealth Observer Group to monitor and provide assessment on the elections in Kenya on August 8, 2017

But after the polls, a petition was filed by the opposition at the apex court of Kenya which in its ruling indicated that there were violations and omissions and called for a rerun on October 26, 2017.

But Mr Mahama failed to take part in the rerun saying “I refused to go back to Kenya because Raila Odinga accused me of being Uhuru Kenyatta’s friend”.

He described monitoring Kenya’s elections as one of the challenging tasks since he left power on January 7, 2017 indicating that it was laced with ethnicity which could be a recipe for conflict if not properly handled.

Mr Raila Odinga had raised objections about the fairness of the 15-member commonwealth observer group in view of claims that the leader who was Former President John Dramani Mahama is a friend to the incumbent.

On GTV with Abdul Hayi Moomen, Mr Mahama revealed that he declined an invitation to take part in the exercise as a way of protecting his integrity.

“I told the Commonwealth that once I was accused, I wouldn’t want to go back there” he explained.