Kenya football legend ready to reconcile president, opposition chief

11 Décembre 2017

Nairobi, Kenya, December 11 (Infosplusgabon) -  Kenyan football legend Joe Kadenge says he is ready to reconcile President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga if given the chance.

Kadenge, a winger-cum strike who dazzled many with his football skills in his heydays, says the two political leaders are his friends and he believes he can bring them to the negotiating table, with a view to breaking the stalemate sparked by the recent presidential elections.

Odinga, a former prime minister and his National Super Alliance (NASA) supporters do not recognise President Kenyatta of the Jubilee Party Kenya because they say the 8 August  general elections and the 26 October presidential re-run were not free and fair.

Kadenge was speaking on Monday at the 2017 Kenya Football Hall of Fame function in Nairobi, where retired international midfielder Allan Thigo was inducted.

"Both President Uhuru Kenyata and Raila Odinga are my friends; I am ready to bring them to the negotiating table if given the chance," said Kadenge.

Thigo, also a coach turned out for 16-time Kenyan league champions Gor Mahia. Gor Mahia, the reigning 2017 Kenyan Premier League champions, also won the now scrapped CAF Nelson Mandela Cup in 1987.

The Football Hall of Fame is the initiative of US-based former Kenyan footballers. It now in its fourth year.

Kadenge, 81, a former marketing manager with the local franchise of international beverage firm, Coca-Cola, asked the the two leaders to put the country first, settle their differences and put the country back on track to prosperity.

During 8 August General Elections, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) declared Kenyatta the winner of the presidential elections with 54 percent of the vote.

Odinga rejected the results, saying the exercise was not free and fair, pointing accusing  fingers at the IEBC. Cited irregularities he lodged at appeal at the Supreme Court.

He demanded that IEBC officials, whom he accused of bungling the poll, be removed from the commission.

The court cancelled the election and ordered that a fresh presidential poll be held.

Odinga and NASA boycotted the re-run on 26 October and Kenyatta went on to win with 98.26% of the votes.

Protests and demonstrations by opposition supporters left at least 50 people dead, according to NASA.

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/AER/GABON 2017

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