Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has condemned remarks made by Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka regarding the ongoing crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In a statement on Thursday, February 6, the PCS dismissed Musyoka’s claims on President William Ruto's alleged involvement in the DRC crisis, and described the comments as reckless.
Mudavadi emphasized that Kenya has no direct involvement in the DRC conflict, other than ensuring peace and stability.
"The crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has nothing to do with Kenya or its leadership. We do not share borders nor do we have any interest in DRC other than peace, stability, and prosperity for its people.
"It is therefore regrettable that Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka in a clip doing rounds in social media insinuates that President William Ruto is part of the problem in the crisis in DRC," the statement read.
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Mudavadi further stressed that the issues affecting the DRC are long-standing and have been debated by regional leaders for decades.
"The issues affecting DRC are agelong and historical and have been canvassed by the previous leaders in the region since the 1960s to date," the statement added.
Mudavadi said Kalonzo's attempt to link Ruto to the crisis was reckless considering he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs for a long time.
"Kalonzo’s attempt to seek to link President Ruto with the issues in DRC is not only an attempt to overstretch his political witch hunt for the Head of State but also reckless, especially for a leader who served for a long time as a Minister of Foreign Affairs and was supposed to understand better the DRC dynamics," the statement concluded.
Speaking in Makueni County on Sunday, February 2, Kalonzo dismissed Ruto's peace efforts in DRC, arguing that he undermined the mediation efforts by former President Uhuru Kenyatta, who was the East African Community's (EAC) peace envoy.
"When Ruto took over, the mistake he made was removing Uhuru as the chief mediator and refusing to facilitate him, and then the whole thing went south. How can he claim to solve DRC problems when he can’t do it at home?" he said.
Earlier in January, Kalonzo had criticized Ruto's foreign policy, asserting that it has led to strained relations with neighboring countries, including the DRC and Sudan.
Kalonzo said the diplomatic errors are jeopardizing relationships that took significant time and effort to establish.
For a country that has taken leadership in the region and among the community states, it is disheartening that today that position is threatened by diplomatic goofs by the current regime pitting Kenya against her closest neighbors.
“We continue to see relentless diplomatic rows, from DRC, to Sudan, to Rwanda, to Uganda and Tanzania. We cannot sit and watch them break relationships that took time and effort to build especially the East African community," he said.
