Kenya: President Kenyatta warns opposition against violent protests

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto have cautioned opposition leader Raila Odinga and his supporters that they were free to hold demonstrations but should not disrupt businesses or destroy property.

They said that any kind of violence or destruction will be met with the full force of the law, in the demonstrations scheduled for Tuesday against the country’s electoral body IEBC.

The NASA opposition coalition had on Sunday given the electoral body officials an ultimatum to vacate office before Tuesday accusing them of bungling the August 8 presidential elections.

Security beefed up at Anniversary towers..#iebcdemos pic.twitter.com/XKcBFpRniK

— Kiprop Rotich (@rotich_kropz) September 26, 2017

The ruling coalition is accusing the opposition of attempting to sabotage the October 26 rerun, with Kenyatta dismissing the opposition as an outfit only interested in forming a coalition government.

“They want to precipitate a constitutional crisis so that they can ascend to power through the back door, but we are telling them that will not happen,” the Deputy President William Ruto was quoted by The Citizen as saying.

“Nimefika base, until baba says I go home.. I’m ready to be tear gassed till justice is served” – Margaret Nganyi #IEBCdemos pic.twitter.com/8O6gzY1jvw

— Capital FM Kenya (@CapitalFMKenya) September 26, 2017

The electoral commission had declared incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta the winner by a margin of 1.4 million votes.

A re-run, originally scheduled for October 17, will be held on October 26.

Meanwhile Kenya’s Director of Public Prosecutions, Keriako Tobiko last week asked the police and anti-corruption agency to investigate whether any electoral or criminal offences had been committed by members of the electoral commission.

He asked investigators to examine allegations that two senior opposition officials had gained illegal access to the commission’s servers.

The electoral commission (the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission) had announced that Kenyatta had won 54% against opposition leader Raila Odinga’s 44%.

But Odinga, of the National Super Alliance, went to court insisting that he had been cheated of victory.

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