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NAIROBI, Kenya — A campaign data company says a Canadian working on the opposition party’s campaign was detained in Kenya and is facing deportation.
A spokeswoman for Aristotle, Inc. — a political consulting company that provides various services to campaigns, including strategy and data analysis — says the Canadian senior vice-president of global services, Andreas Katsouris, and CEO John Aristotle Phillips were detained Friday night. They’re expected to be deported Saturday night.
Spokeswoman Brandi Travis says Katsouris is a Canadian working out of Toronto.
Travis says the two men were in the African country assisting opposition candidate Raila Odinga, and had become involved in the Kenyan election because they thought it had the potential for irregularities.
Saturday was the last day of campaigning in the election, which is set for Tuesday.
President Uhuru Kenyatta — the son of Kenya’s first president — will face longtime opposition leader Odinga, the son of the country’s first vice-president.
Odinga has run in vain for the top post in three previous contests.
Recent elections in the East African high-tech and commercial hub have been hotly contested, and more than 1,000 people were killed in post-election violence a decade ago. Kenyatta prevailed over Odinga in a 2013 vote that was mostly peaceful but tainted by opposition allegations of vote-rigging.
Travis says Katsouris and Phillips knew there were risks associated with working for the opposition in Kenya, but they thought Odinga’s cause was worth it.
She says the men are with consular officials in the airport in Nairobi, waiting to be deported.
