A company working on campaign data in Kenya says Canadian staffer Andreas Katsouris was detained Friday night and faces deportation later Saturday, along with the CEO of the company, John Aristotle Phillips.
The two men were assisting opposition candidate Raila Odinga with issues including strategy and data analysis and had chosen to get involved in the Kenyan election because they thought it had the potential for irregularities.
The U.S. Embassy in Kenya says an American and a Canadian who were detained ahead of Tuesday’s tightly contested election are “safe and departing” the country.
The embassy said Saturday on Twitter that U.S. and Canadian officials have been in touch with their detained citizens as well as the Kenyan government.
Kenya’s main opposition coalition says the American and the Canadian were assisting its campaign and that they were detained on Friday. It is not immediately clear why they were detained.
James Orengo, a senior member of the National Super Alliance, says two Ghanaians working on the opposition campaign also have been deported.