Uhuru risked angering Trump with this statement – veteran journalist
Trump is over-sensitive to criticism
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In his weekly column with the Nation and which was penned before the Kenyatta-Trump meeting, Gaitho said it was unusual for the Kenyan President to criticise the US policies that Trump has passionately supported.
“He pinched the nose of another president — a big, bad, ugly, tempestuous creature — just before entering his lair,” Gaitho wrote about Kenyatta.
The political journalist and commentator was responding to an interview last Saturday where President Kenyatta expressed disappointment, albeit in a subtle manner, to the US’s protectionist policies that have seen it pull out of several trade deals.
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“We are not keen on these barriers that people are putting up especially now when Africa is coming of age. We believe trade should be free and people should be able to take advantage of that. It’s unfortunate that people are beginning to look inward, for example in Europe, there is a similar feeling in America,” Kenyatta said during an interview with Chinese Global Television Network (CGTN).
“If he (Kenyatta) was travelling with begging bowl in hand, chances are, he would be met by an often-irrational host who gives little regard to diplomatic niceties and does not conceal his disdain for Africa,” the journalist wrote.
He added that the Kenyan President may well have been showing the US that Kenya had options and that it would only engage on the basis of respect and mutual support.
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