There was confusion and chaos in Kenya after Iranian officials rescheduled a planned trip by President Ebrahim Raisi at the last minute.
Raisi was to tour Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe for three days, the first by an Iranian President to Africa in 11 years.
State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohamed confirmed that the planned visit would be rescheduled at a later date.
It later emerged Raisi would land in Kenya later on Tuesday, July 11.
Officials said the Iranian officials said the trip was rescheduled after Kenyan officials changed an earlier agreed schedule.
But foreign affairs Principal Secretary Kipkorir Singoei dismissed this as baseless speculations.
The Kenyan and the Iranian governments had agreed that the Iranian President would be given a State Visit, only for Kenyan officials to downgrade it to an official visit due to certain reasons.
“Under such circumstances, Iran said they would cancel the visit until the issue was addressed,” said an official.
Visits by Heads of State are generally placed into two categories which include State Visits and Official Visits.
A State Visit is usually more detailed with a military parade, gun salute, an elaborate reception, and other such state courtesies.
Meanwhile, in State House, the carpet had been laid, tents had already been set up, media had been invited, and the caterers had set up only for the word to come Raisi would not come on time.
This left President William Ruto very livid over the mess up by his people, who mishandled the organization of the visit.
State House officials said they expected Raisi later in the evening on Tuesday.
After receiving an official invitation from Ruto, the two heads of state were set to engage in discussions about key areas, including trade expansion, energy, agriculture, and technology.
The duo was also expected to sign co-operation agreements to seal the trade links with Iran’s delegation which comprised the foreign minister as well as influential business people.
On Monday, July 10, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanani hailed the trip as a turning point and it would bolster economic ties with African nations.
He also indicated that the harmonious relations between the two countries were a result of common political views.
He added Iran’s commitment to step up diplomacy in a bid to offset the impact of sanctions imposed in 2018 owing to the withdrawal of the United States from a nuclear deal.
Kenya and Iran enjoy trade relations with the latter importing an average of Ksh2 billion worth of tea, and Ksh57 million of coffee – according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (the world’s leading data visualization tool for international trade data).