President Uhuru Kenyatta US trip raises power vacuum query

President Kenyatta may be forced to skip a world leaders meeting in New York, scheduled to begin on Sunday, to avoid a possible “power vacuum.”

The revelations emerged even as Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed embarked on a trans-African tour to set the tempo for an anticipated African charge against the International Criminal Court to be lodged during the UN General Assembly meeting in New York next week.

RALLY SUPPORT

Sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Ms Mohammed, who was in Ethiopia on Tuesday last week, has already visited South Africa and Namibia and was on Monday in various countries in West Africa in a shuttle diplomacy to rally support for Kenya.

President Kenyatta is expected to fly out at the weekend to the UN headquarters in New York to join other world leaders in the UN General Assembly.

The Constitution doesn’t expressly limit the President and his deputy from official absence at the same time, but his handlers are keen on containing speculation that may follow their absence.

His spokesman, Mr Manoah Esipisu, on Monday insisted that the President’s diary including the UN trip was intact.

“Yes we are still scheduled to be in New York according to the programme, nothing has changed,” Mr Esipisu stated.

But when asked whether the President would be flying out despite the absence of his deputy, Mr William Ruto, who jetted out on Monday to attend his trial in The Hague, Mr Esipisu asked for more time to consult on the matter.

Last week Mr Kenyatta, while reacting to an initial overlapping trial programme, said it was not possible for him and his deputy to be out of the country at the same time.