Eldas MP Adan Keynan speaking at a function.
Eldas MP Adan Keynan has hit out at former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua following his recent remarks urging US President Donald Trump’s administration to conduct a Venezuela-style operation in Kenya and arrest suspects linked to the Minnesota fraud.
Speaking on Monday, Keynan who chairs the Northern Kenya Parliamentary Group, said that it was regrettable to see the former DP resort to issuing reckless and inflammatory remarks through unsubstantiated allegations against the Somali community.
He was reacting to Gachagua’s statement last week during aservice at African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa Kiratina in Kiambu county, where he asked the US government to accelerate its investigation linked to the stolen funds from Minnesota.
The Democracy for the Citizens Party leader claimed that the stolen funds were used to sponsor President William Ruto’s campaigns ahead of the 2022 general election.
“There is a mall in Eastleigh that was built with that money. The owner of that mall is a business partner of the President. Trump has said he wants to take these people from here, and we welcome that. But the President was busy making plans on how the courts would block these people from being extradited,” he said.
“We are asking Trump not to bother with the extradition process in Kenya, just do what you did in Venezuela. Send your people with a plane, pick that person up and go charge them,” Gachagua added.
Keynan called on the National Cohesion and Integration Commission to urgently investigate the former DP, saying that he risks sowing seeds of discord among Kenyans through his utterances.
“I therefore formally call upon the NCIC to urgently investigate the inflammatory and unfounded statements made by Mr Gachagua and to institute appropriate legal action in respect of hate speech and ethnic incitement,” he said.
“Further, Mr Gachagua must retract his false and unsubstantiated claims, issue an unreserved public apology and forthwith cease and desist from engaging in inflammatory rhetoric targeting legitimate investments and lawful businesses in the country.”
Keynan said Gachagua’s move to cast
aspersions on lawful, transparent and well-documented investments by a
proprietor, and by extension other members of the Somali business community,
amounts to ethnic profiling.
He said such conduct appears deliberately calculated to inflame tensions, foment division and generate unwarranted hostility against the Somali community.
According to the legislator, the mall was developed on land lawfully acquired in 2009 by the same proprietor, upon which a smaller establishment known as Comesa Mall was initially constructed.
“The proprietor is a well-established and respected business magnate who has operated in Eastleigh for over 25 years, having ventured into entrepreneurship at the tender age of 20. He maintains an unblemished record, with no allegation of misconduct ever associated with his name,” he said.
“His reputation, both regionally and internationally, is firmly anchored on integrity, diligence and trustworthiness, rendering the allegations levelled against him particularly reckless and malicious.”
The mall one of the largest in in East and Central Africa was successfully completed in 2022.
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