This archive report was first published on 14 August 2019.
President Uhuru Kenyatta's grand opening of the refurbished Sh3 billion Kisumu Port, scheduled for Thursday, has been indefinitely postponed.
The postponement was occasioned by the clashing diaries of other East African Heads of State who were expected to attend the launch, The Nation has established.
President Kenyatta was expected to lead six other presidents during the official launch of the project, which for decades has been lying idle.
State House spokesperson Kanze Dena-Mararo confirmed the postponement, stating, "The event has been postponed and it will now take place at a date to be announced later."
Other Heads of State who were expected at the event include Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), John Magufuli (Tanzania), Felix Tshisekedi (Democratic Republic of Congo), Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Salva Kiir (South Sudan), and Pierre Nkurunziza (Burundi).
Highly-placed sources privy to the plans for the launch confided that President Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga were keen on having the other EAC Heads of State attend the inauguration.
"What we have gathered is that most works had been completed but the fixed diaries of other EAC presidents may have occasioned the postponement because the President and his 'brother' really need them to attend the event," the source said.
