The Kenyan mission at the United Nations was closed for the holidays at the time when 128 countries voted against Donald Trump's decision on Jerusalem.
Kenya's permanent representative to the UN Macharia Kamau said this is the reason Kenyan officials were missing at the Thursday vote.
He said that contrary to reports that Kenya deliberately stayed away, the mission was "officially missing in action".
But Kenya also appeared to be making a balancing diplomatic move having traditionally voted for Palestine.
Israel has become a key Kenyan ally and the two countries are among the top 10 recipients of US aid.
Kenya was among 21 nations that did not vote in the process that saw 35 nations abstain and nine voting against the resolution.
Read: Over 120 UN countries vote against Trump's decision on Jerusalem
The envoy added that if the mission was open and Kenya participated in the vote, then it would have abstained.
"Mission had registered as closed as at 20:12:17 prior to call of vote and Nikki Haley threats. And by the way, Kenya's policy is to abstain in country-specific votes with the exception of Palestine and Cuba," Kamau said.
He added: "That is Kenya's normal voting pattern. Specific to Palestine. The Thursday vote was specific to the US. If the mission was open, we would have abstained. Strict policy as we are bombarded with country-specific votes that are inappropriate and liable to abuse in multilateral processes."
The UN member states defied President Trump and voted in favor of a UN General Assembly resolution calling for the United States to drop its recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
The US President had threatened to cut off financial aid to countries that voted in favour of the resolution.
More on this: Trump threatens to cut aid to UN members over Jerusalem vote
Trump's threat appeared to have some impact, with more countries abstaining and rejecting the resolution than usually associated with Palestinian issues.
However, the top 10 recipients of US aid, which include Kenya, defied Trump and either supported the motion or abstained.
Kenya, a key ally of the Israeli, was the only country in the top 10 aid recipients that did not take part in the vote.
Just a month ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks with various African leaders in Nairobi after the swearing in of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
While Kenya stayed away, Uganda and South Sudan dropped their past support for Palestine and abstained from the vote.
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