DAR ES SALAAM, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania on Monday restated its denial that the east African nation was interfering with the Kenyan electoral process towards the polls on October 8.
Augustine Mahiga, Minister for Foreign Affairs, East African, Regional and International Co-operation, said reports by some of the Kenyan media that Tanzania was interfering with the elections in Kenya were baseless.
"Tanzania has and will never interfere with any foreign country's affairs, including the Kenyan elections," Mahiga told a news conference in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.
Recent reports by some of the Kenyan media claimed that Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga has set a tallying center in Tanzania that will ensure that vote counting was not rigged.
Kenyan incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition chief Raila are in a tight race for the presidency.
The minister added: "We do not understand why this is coming at this time, but I have to assure our people that Tanzania will never think of doing such a move to any country."
He said Tanzania will always cherish the relationship that existed between it and Kenya for many years and that at no time will it attempt to interfere with its neighbor's internal affairs.
"Tanzanians and Kenyans should understand that the political temperature in Kenya is, understandably, very high due to the elections scheduled to take place in August," said Mahiga.
He added: "The rival camps are using every technique in the playbook to outperform one another but the Tanzanian government is not siding with any of the two major camps."
Some Kenyan media have reported that Tanzanian President John Magufuli was supporting Raila, his longtime friend.
But Mahiga said Tanzania respected and believed in the principles of democracy and good governance and thus there was no way it could stick its nose into Kenyan internal political affairs.
He asked the public to ignore the misleading reports in some of the Kenyan media saying they were unhealthy for the growth of democracy and good relations in the region. Enditem
