Raila Expresses Disappointment with John Kerry, International Observers

National Super Alliance (NASA) presidential candidate Raila Odinga has expressed his disappointment with international election observers led by former United States Secretary of State John Kerry over their view that Kenya elections were credible.

Speaking in an interview with global leading media CNN on Thursday evening, the former Prime Minister castigated the observers, saying that they only concentrated on voting and tallying but gave a deaf ear on transmission of the results.

“I think that the observers have not helped Kenyans resolve this dispute, they have confounded it by giving basically an approval to a fairly flawed process…and therefore I am very disappointed with John Kerry and the other observers,” he said.

The Orange Democraric Movement (ODM) leader maintained that the opposition outfit does not want to plunge the country to violence and appealed to his supporters to remain calm.

“We know the consequences of 20017 and we do not want to see a repeat of that anymore,” he said.

Asked on the violence witnessed in some parts of the country on Wednesday and Thursday, the opposition chief said he does not control anyone adding that Kenyans want justice.

Earlier CNN interviewed Kerry, who headed the Carter Centre observer mission and gave the Kenyan elections a clean bill of heath.

“The tallying is ongoing but we believe that the elections commission in Kenya has put in place a process that will allow each and every vote integrity to be proven and to be protected.

“…..There is a way to go back, if anything was changed, if anything was fiddled with, to absolutely ascertain what happened in the polling station,” he said.

“I believe that there is great legitimacy in the basic process, the question that now has to be tested is did everybody follow it, and has it in fact, somebody attempted to alter it at any stage” he said.

International observers on Thursday termed the elections peaceful and lauded Kenyans for turning up at polling stations to elect leaders of choice.