President Kenyatta jets back to the country

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 23- President Uhuru Kenyatta arrived back in Nairobi Wednesday morning after a long six-day trip to Turkey and Belgium.

The president landed at JKIA at about 6 am before being driven to State House.

He is expected to attend a funeral event later in the day in his rural home in Gatundu.

While in Belgium, he met King Phillipe at the Royal Palace in Brussels.

As the President-in-Office of the 79-member Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), he expressed concerns over increasing unilateral decisions by the European Union targeting the multilateral institution’s member states.

He said that the EU doesn’t engage the OACPS before making some of its decisions, which is contrary to the provisions of the Cotonou agreement.

 “The unilateral application of measures, including sanctions, by the EU, as imposed on Eritrea and Burundi, has created sensitivities and concerns within our Group,” Uhuru noted.

The Cotonou agreement spells out the scope of the Groups’ engagement with the EU to include conflict prevention and good governance under political dialogue.

Uhuru said that he unsuccessfully raised, with the EU leadership the issue of blacklisting of OACPS countries on grounds of deficiencies in anti-money laundering and financing of terrorism, but the union went ahead and adopted the list.

The Head of State is on a two-day Official Visit of Belgium and the European Union.

Uhuru also updated the committee measures OACPS was taking in the fight against Covid-19 saying that there is a need to call for a Heads of State and Government summit to discuss post-pandemic recovery strategies.

He called on OACPS nations to join the Global Partnership for Education, an initiative through which Kenya and the United Kingdom seeks to raise USD5 billion to support an estimated 1.3 billion children whose education was interrupted by Covid-19.

On Tuesday morning, the President participated in a business forum convened by the Belgian Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture where he addressed investor concerns and the reforms being undertaken by the Government to improve Kenya’s business climate.