Tanzania Denies Backing Raila Odinga

The Government of Tanzania has denied that President John Pombe Magufuli is interfering with Kenyan elections by supporting National Super Alliance (NASA) presidential candidate Raila Odinga.

Tanzanian opposition on Monday accused Magufuli was inteferring with the Kenyan elections and accused Odinga of supporting a “dictator” (Magufili).

The controversy follows claims that Magufuli, a personal friend of Raila Odinga has been offering financial and strategy support for the NASA campaign and has also helped them set a parallel tallying center in Tanzania.

Tanzania Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Augustine Mahiga however denied reports linking Tanzania with its Kenya’s elections which are 13 days away, terming them “false”. “Rival camps are, therefore, using every technique to outperform one another, but the Government of Tanzania is not siding with any of the two major camps,” Mahiga argued.

The Minister said that President Magufuli has the believe that it is the democratic right of Kenyan voters to choose their leaders on the ballot

Two months ago the leader of Majority in the National Assembly Aden Duale claimed President Magufuli had agreed to host a parallel tallying centre for Nasa during the August 8 General Election.

Raila said that there was nothing wrong with Nasa having a parallel tallying centre because, Jubilee too had one in 2013 and should stop complaining.

“Jubilee had a parallel tallying centre , which was at the Catholic University,” Mr Odinga was quoted as saying last month. “They also had their server connected to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) server through Kencall.. But because Nasa wants to do parallel tallying, it has suddenly become a crime and top Jubilee leaders are running all over the place trying to give it a bad name,” he said.