Kenya: Nairobi calm a day after Supreme Court upholds Kenyatta re-election

Kenya’s capital Nairobi appeared to be back to calm on Tuesday, a day after the Supreme Court upheld the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta in last month’s repeat presidential vote.

Other cities across the country including Kisumu which is in the opposition stronghold were also reportedly calm.

Nairobi resident, Richard Muchiri, says: “What has happened by yesterday’s verdict, we are happy about it because we have now regained the peace back in our country and hoping that you know, everything will go on well. Because we had gone down, about businesses and economically we had lost quite a lot, and probably by end of last week we had lost about 1.4 trillion shillings in business. And we are hoping everything will come back and we continue now with the running of the country.”

“As a Kenyan who participated in the voting, to me I feel like it is a burden that has been taken off our shoulders because as a parent also, apart from being a Kenyan, apart from being employed, I feel like now life can move on,” says another resident Sarah Shisikame.

The country’s Chief Justice David Maraga said on Monday that all the six judges dismissed the two legal challenges to the repeat vote, consequently upholding president Kenyatta’s re-election, a ruling that sparked tension and unrest in various districts of the Kenyan capital.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga who flew out to Zanzibar hours before the ruling is yet to directly address his supporters.

Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto will be sworn in on November 28.