Kenyan authorities shut down private television and radio stations on Tuesday as thousands of supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga gathered in a Nairobi park where he was due to take the presidential oath in an act of protest.
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Odinga’s supporters insist that he, not President Uhuru Kenyatta, is Kenya’s legitimate leader, and that Kenyatta’s election was neither free nor fair.
Kenyatta’s election victory in August was nullified by the Supreme Court over irregularities, but he then won a re-run, which Odinga boycotted, and was sworn in for a second term in November.
The attorney-general had warned that Odinga could be charged with treason if the event went ahead &#8211; an offense that can carry the death penalty.
As thousands of people gathered in Uhuru Park, near Nairobi’s main business district, authorities began to force independent television and radio stations reporting on the gathering off air, several outlets said &#8211; the first such closures for about a decade.
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Many of the protesters were chanting pro-Odinga slogans, waving tree branches and blowing horns and whistles.
“Odinga is the one we recognize as the president and that is why we are swearing him in,” said hairdresser Benta Akinyi, 32.
<h3>NO POLICE VISIBLE</h3>
Although the police had said they would prevent any illegal assembly, there were no uniformed police in the park and no anti-riot officers or vehicles were visible. On the edge of the crowd, a single tear gas canister was fired.
Nearly 100 people were killed over the prolonged election period, mostly in clashes between Odinga supporters and police.
The local radio station Capital FM reported that Odinga’s supporters had been granted permission to use the park, but police and government spokespeople could not immediately be reached for comment.
“We intend to hold a peaceful event,” Odinga’s NASA alliance said in a statement late on Monday.
“We nonetheless wish to put the (ruling party) Jubilee administration on notice that we will accomplish our mission, come hell or high water. We advise our supporters to come prepared to stay until our mission is accomplished.”
By 10:20 a.m. (0720 GMT), a number of media outlets, including the independently-owned Citizen radio and television, NTV and KTN said that authorities had forced them off air. KTN had been showing a live video stream from the park.
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A Communications Authority spokeswoman said its senior managers were in a meeting and would comment later.
“The Communications Authority of Kenya has switched off Citizen Television and Radio in most parts of the country over the coverage of the NASA ‘swearing-in’ plan,” Citizen said on its website.
On Monday, Linus Kaikai, chairman of the Kenya Editors’ Guild, said editors had been summoned by the authorities and warned that they could be shut down if they covered the event.
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Additional reporting by Humphrey Malalo and Katharine Houreld; Writing by Maggie Fick; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky
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Broadcasters shut as thousands gather for Kenyan opposition ‘swearing in’

Several hundred supporters of Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga gathered on Tuesday morning at a park in downtown Nairobi, determined to “swear in as president” their leader who boycotted a re-run election last year.
<div id="attachment_282846" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-282846" class="wp-image-282846 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/1571595826001_5560783766001_5560776180001-vs.jpeg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" />Odinga speaks out as Kenya court nullifies president&#8217;s election win</div>
President Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in for a second term in November after winning the repeat presidential election in October that Odinga boycotted due to doubts it would be free and fair.
Kenyatta had also been declared winner of the August election, but the Supreme Court later nullified that result, over irregularities.
Odinga said the October election was “fake” and earlier said a “people’s assembly” would swear him in on December 12. That did not happen, and a new event was planned for Tuesday.
By 0600 GMT, about 400 people were gathered in Uhuru Park, near Nairobi’s main business district.
Though the police had said they would prohibit any illegal assemblies on Tuesday, there were no uniformed police in the park and no anti-riot officers or vehicles.
Local radio station Capital FM reported that supporters had been granted permission by Kenyan authorities to use the park. Police and government spokesman were not immediately reachable for comment on that report.
Opposition supporters claim Odinga won the August vote.
”The swearing in that will happen today is legitimate based on the August 8 election. Odinga is the one we recognise as the president and that is why we are swearing him in,” said hairdresser Benta Akinyi, 32, standing near other opposition supporters blowing horns and whistles.
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Reporting by George Obulutsa; Additional reporting by Humphrey Malalo; Writing by Maggie Fick; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore
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Hundreds of Kenyan opposition supporters gather for “swearing in” of Raila Odinga

Kenyan security forces fired teargas to control crowds trying to force their way into a stadium for President Uhuru Kenyatta’s inauguration on Tuesday, as riot police sealed off an area where the opposition planned to hold a rival rally.
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Kenyatta won a second five-year term on Oct. 26 in a repeat presidential election boycotted by opposition leader Raila Odinga, who said it would not be free and fair.
The Supreme Court nullified the first presidential election, in August, over irregularities.
The extended election season has divided Kenya, a Western ally in a volatile region, and blunted growth in East Africa’s richest economy.
Supporters of Kenyatta &#8211; who won with 98 percent of the vote after Odinga’s boycott &#8211; are urging the opposition to engage in talks and move on.
“Our responsibility after the political competition is to come together and work to build the nation,” Kenyatta told a church service on Sunday.
Hours before the inauguration was due to start, 60,000 Kenyatta supporters, many clad in the red and yellow Jubilee party colours and carrying Kenyan flags, filled the stadium where the ceremony will take place.
Others, chafing at being kept outside, overwhelmed police and streamed in. Officers then fired teargas in a bid to control them.
“I’m sure Uhuru will be able to bring people together and unite them so we can all work for the country,” said Eunice Jerobon, a trader who travelled overnight from the Rift Valley town of Kapsabet for the inauguration, before the disturbance.
But Odinga supporters say such talk of unity is tantamount to surrender. They accuse the ruling party of stealing the election, rampant corruption, directing abuse by the security forces and neglecting vast swathes of the country, including Odinga’s heartland in the west.
“A return to the political backwardness of our past is more than unacceptable. It is intolerable &#8230; This divide cannot be bridged by dialogue and compromise,” Odinga’s National Super Alliance opposition alliance said in a statement.
The opposition planned to hold a prayer meeting in the capital on Tuesday, saying it wanted to commemorate the lives of Odinga supporters killed during confrontations with the security forces over the election period.
More than 70 people have been killed in political violence this election season, mostly by the police.
But a Reuters team at the scene of the planned rally said it had been sealed off by seven truck loads of police. Two water cannons were standing by.
Police began firing teargas in nearby residential areas two hours before the rally was due to start, apparently attempting to prevent opposition supporters from gathering.
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Additional reporting by Katharine Houreld; writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Angus MacSwan, Robert Birsel
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Kenyan president to be sworn-in as opposition prepares to hold rival rally

Kenya’s main share indices dropped on Thursday, as profit-taking broke a bounce that followed the upholding of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election by the Supreme Court, traders said.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-9513 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/stock_exchange_board_-_aids_research.jpg" alt="JSE’s top performing stocks in March 2015" width="1365" height="1024" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/stock_exchange_board_-_aids_research.jpg 1365w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/stock_exchange_board_-_aids_research-300x225.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/stock_exchange_board_-_aids_research-820x615.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/stock_exchange_board_-_aids_research-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/stock_exchange_board_-_aids_research-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/stock_exchange_board_-_aids_research-160x120.jpg 160w" sizes="(max-width: 1365px) 100vw, 1365px" />
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The benchmark NSE-20 share index of blue chip shares slipped 0.33 percent, while the all-share index, fell 2.48 percent, the Nairobi Securities Exchange said.
The NSE-20 has rallied 2.9 percent since Monday’s verdict, while the all-share index has surged 5.5 percent in the wake of the ruling.

Kenyan shares fall in correction after Supreme Court verdict bounce

Kenya’s Supreme Court on Monday upheld the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta in last month’s repeat presidential vote.
<div id="attachment_43936" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-43936" class="wp-image-43936 size-medium" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/uhuru_kenyatta2_wikipedia-300x227.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="227" />Photo: Wikipedia.</div>
Chief Justice David Maraga said the court dismissed two legal challenges to the vote in a unanimous decision by six judges.
“As a consequence, the presidential election of 26th of October is hereby upheld,” he said.
The petitioners had argued, amongst other reasons, that the outcome should be voided because the election board did not seek fresh nominations after the earlier Aug. 8 poll was invalidated, and because the vote was not held in each of Kenya’s 291 voter constituencies.
The repeat election had been ordered by the Supreme Court after it nullified the results of the August presidential election.
The ruling clears the way for Kenyatta’s swearing-in on Nov. 28, but it is unlikely to end the worst political crisis in East Africa’s richest and most developed economy in a decade.
Police said on Sunday at least four people were killed overnight in a Nairobi slum that is a stronghold of opposition leader Raila Odinga.
He accused the government of being behind the killings, which followed at least five deaths on Friday as police tried to disperse opposition supporters.
In several areas of the capital, riots broke out on Sunday in response to the deaths, as residents lit cars and buses on fire and police responded with tear gas.
The court, created by a 2010 constitution that followed a violent political crisis three years earlier, made history on the continent when it nullified Kenyatta’s win in August elections, citing irregularities.
Odinga successfully petitioned against Kenyatta’s initial victory in the Aug. 8 vote and subsequently boycotted the repeat poll on Oct. 26, saying it would be unfair because the election commission had failed to implement reforms.
Kenyatta won with 98 percent of the vote, though opposition supporters staged a boycott and prevented polls from opening in the west of the country.
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Writing By Maggie Fick; Editing by Toby Chopra
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Kenya’s Supreme Court upholds repeat presidential vote

Kenya’s Supreme Court will rule on Monday on cases that seek to nullify the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta last month and the judges could order a fresh vote or clear the way for the incumbent to be sworn in for a second term.
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The two cases appear to represent a final chance for legal scrutiny of the Oct. 26 election and the ruling could end a protracted political crisis in which more than 60 people have been killed. Kenya is a hub for trade, diplomacy and security in East Africa.
“We will deliver judgment on the 20th,” Chief Justice David Maraga told lawyers at the end of a hearing on Thursday.
Kenyatta defeated opposition leader Raila Odinga in August but Odinga challenged the election and the court voided it citing procedural irregularities and ordered a fresh vote. The court’s decision was the first of its kind in Africa.
Odinga boycotted last month’s poll, saying the election commission had failed to carry out sufficient reforms. Kenyatta won with 98 percent of the vote.
Lawyers for the petitioners, a former lawmaker and two human rights activists, urged the court to nullify the repeat poll due to a lack of fresh nominations for candidates and violence in some areas that prevented voting.
Their counterparts for the election board, its chairman and Kenyatta, rejected the petition and urged the court to uphold the result to help end a crisis that has hurt the economy.
The Supreme Court was created by a 2010 constitution that followed a crisis over a disputed election in 2007 in which around 1,200 people were killed in ethnic clashes.
Analysts said the September ruling by the Supreme Court could embolden other judiciaries in Africa. This month, Liberia’s Supreme Court halted a presidential run-off until the election board investigates claims of fraud in the first round of voting.
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Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg
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Kenya court to rule on presidential election cases on Monday

Kenya’s main opposition leader said on Thursday that anger over last month’s presidential election ran so deep it threatened to tear the country apart.
<div id="attachment_282846" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-282846" class="wp-image-282846 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/1571595826001_5560783766001_5560776180001-vs.jpeg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" />Odinga speaks out as Kenya court nullifies president&#8217;s election win</div>
Raila Odinga boycotted the Oct. 25 election because he said it would be unfair, leaving President Uhuru Kenyatta to win with 98 percent of the vote. The Supreme Court called the poll after it annulled a first presidential election held in August on procedural grounds.
“Mainstream Kenyans feel so deeply cheated they are openly toying with the idea of secession,” Odinga told an audience in Washington, D.C.
His speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think-tank, was broadcast live on Kenyan television.
“The biggest problem in Kenya right now is exclusion &#8230; unless they (the problems) are addressed they will tear the country apart,” he said. “As things stand now, anger and radicalization is growing by the day.”
A small number of politicians in Odinga’s opposition alliance have discussed the idea of his strongholds seceding from Kenya but the idea has not gained wide popularity.
Odinga’s supporter base is concentrated along Kenya’s coast, in city slums and in his western strongholds, areas that have traditionally felt excluded from political power and the opportunities for patronage it offers.
Odinga’s supporters are currently boycotting three companies they say are backing the government. The opposition has called for protests on Friday.
In his speech, Odinga noted Kenya’s four presidents since independence had all come from the Kikuyu or Kalenjin communities, even though the country had 44 recognised ethnic groups. Kenyatta is a Kikuyu and his deputy, who has made clear his intention to run in the next election, is a Kalenjin.
Earlier this week, Odinga told Reuters he wanted a caretaker government for six months while preparations were made for new elections.
Government officials reject the idea, saying Odinga had his chance to compete in October.
The Supreme Court is due to start hearing petitions on the legality of the October elections next week.
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additional reporting by John Ndiso; editing by John Stonestreet
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Political exclusion risks tearing Kenya apart, says opposition leader

Sekou Toure Otondi | University of Nairobi
In his last address at Uhuru Park on the eve of Kenya’s October 26 election re-run, Raila Odinga announced the creation of what he called a National Resistance Movement. In a later interview with CNN, he clarified that the movement was a new wing of the opposition coalition, the National Super Alliance (NASA) which he led into the presidential elections in early August.
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<div id="attachment_280932" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-280932" class="wp-image-280932 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Raila-Odinga_New_Flickr.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="562" />NEW DELHI/INDIA, 16NOV10 &#8211; Raila Amolo Odinga, Prime Minister of Kenya, during the New South session at the World Economic Forum&#8217;s India Economic Summit 2010 held in New Delhi, 14-16 November 2010. Copyright (cc-by-sa) © World Economic Forum (www.weforum.org/Photo Matthew Jordaan matthew.jordaan@inl.co.za)</div>
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He said the resistance movement would complement the other arms of the opposition coalition and would pursue a peaceful, non-violent struggle. It’s main objective would be to advance electoral justice in Kenya and across Africa as well.
His latest public address was expected to provide a radical way forward. But it fell short of expectations among his supporters who expected a more radical announcement. In addition to the resistance movement, Odinga also created a “People’s Parliament” to protect election integrity, constitutionalism, democracy and the rule of law.
Odinga’s immediate aim remains to force a credible election in the next 90 days. To achieve this the opposition alliance is seeking a total overhaul of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
These moves come at a time when opposition leaders feel that the international community, led by the US and European Union, are either reluctant to push for reforms. Many believe that they are conspiring with the Jubliee regime to protect their own business, security, and diplomatic interests in the region.
The developments spearheaded by Odinga are, in my opinion, good for Kenya’s democracy. By constituting a People’s Assembly, NASA is seeking to put citizens at the centre of the struggle for electoral reforms, constitutionalism, and the expansion of democratisation.
<h2>Undemocratic behaviour</h2>
The Jubilee administration, buoyed by an overwhelming majority in both houses of parliament, appears to be trying to roll back Kenya’s democratic gains. The fact that the party is also in control of the executive makes matters worse.
This is exemplified by its forceful passage of the controversial bill to amend the electoral process in the middle of the election cycle. Parliamentarians pressed ahead with the bill despite being cautioned against doing so by a wide section of Kenyan society and the international community. Some parts of the bill seem well-intentioned. But others, such as the provisions that prioritise manual voting mechanisms over the current electronic system, don’t augur well for the country.
The Jubilee regime has also embarked on a crackdown of civil society organisations deemed to be sympathetic to the opposition coalition. These include the Kenya Human Rights commission and Africog, a governance and public ethics non-governmental organisation.
In addition, members of the party are openly calling for a “benevolent dictatorship” in Kenya. This call was first made by the Jubilee Party vice-chairman David Murathe.
Benevolent dictatorships – which operate on the basis that certain democratic rights need to be ceded for economic gain – are cited as the reason for the economic rise of countries such as China and Singapore. But the same may not necessarily be true for Kenya. Under the one party dictatorships of former presidents Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Moi Kenya’s economy was stunted. In Africa the countries that have made economic progress such as Botswana, Namibia, and Mauritius are some of the most democratic.
<h2>Odinga’s options</h2>
Odinga has three options to make sure Kenya’s democracy is strengthened, and not weakened.
The first is to file another petition to the Supreme Court. He can bring the case in his own capacity or sponsor like-minded civil society organisations to petition the court. The petition would challenge the credibility of the repeat electoral process and the legitimacy of Kenyatta’s presidency.
The other option is to sustain a civil disobedience campaign. This would involve peaceful protests and other forms of opposition such as an economic boycott of goods and service providers associated with Kenyatta’s regime.
The opposition could also call for street protests. The danger with this is that they could turn violent. Since the August 8th election demonstrators have repeatedly clashed with police. And in certain parts of the country NASA and Jubilee supporters have clashed in confrontations that could escalate into ethnic violence.
A final and extreme option would be for the regions that support the alliance to secede. The secession debate, which was triggered by NASA technical advisor David Ndii, has excited the opposition’s support base. Odinga himself, though cautious, seems to be sympathetic if what he calls “electoral authoritarianism” persists.
In reality NASA should be pushing for Kenya’s devolved system of governance to be strengthened with a view to redrawing boundaries and creating a federal system. This approach is likely to be well received in alliance strongholds, particularly in regions where communities have felt marginalised and disenfranchised by successive Kenyan governments.
Where does this all leave Odinga? Regardless of his future political trajectory, he has left a positive mark on Kenya’s political landscape. He has been at the forefront of the struggle for democracy, good governance, and upholding the rule of law. The Supreme Court has vindicated him. This is in addition to his campaign for Kenyans to boycott the repeat election that resulted in low voter turnout, leaving Kenyatta reeling with legitimacy question.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86562/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />Odinga’s struggle for electoral integrity as a key cornerstone for democracy and rule of law should be supported by progressive forces across the continent. Retrogressive regimes have an uncanny way of entrenching themselves. Hence Odinga, and his alliance’s push should be contextualised in the wider struggle towards a functioning democracy for Africa.
Sekou Toure Otondi, PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, University of Nairobi
This article was originally published on The Conversation.

Why Odinga’s resistance movement could be important for democracy in Kenya

Kenya’s government denied a request by Supreme Court judges for extra security after one of their bodyguards was shot, preventing them from holding a hearing that could have delayed last week’s presidential election, a senior judicial source said on Tuesday.
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The court has been centre stage since it annulled an Aug. 8 vote won by President Uhuru Kenyatta, citing procedural irregularities and ordering a repeat vote within 60 days.
The decision was the first of its kind in Africa, where governments often hold sway over judges. It angered some of Kenyatta’s supporters, who said the judges had thwarted the will of the people.
Kenyatta won 98 percent of the vote in the Oct. 26 re-run after opposition leader Raila Odinga boycotted it on the grounds it would not be fair because the election board had failed to implement reforms he sought after the court decision.
The Supreme Court had been due to meet on Oct. 25 to deliberate on an eleventh-hour request to delay the re-run. But the day before, the bodyguard of its deputy chief justice was shot as he bought pot plants beside a highway.
Only Chief Justice David Maraga turned up for the Oct. 25 hearing. Without a minimum quorum of five judges, Maraga said the court could not make a ruling on the petition, paving the way for the election re-run to go ahead.
Asked about the request by the judges, Interior ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka said security for all judges was enhanced in the wake of the shooting. “If anybody is telling you to the contrary, they are not telling the truth,” he told Reuters.
The government said the bodyguard’s shooting was a robbery rather than an attempt to intimidate the judges, whom Kenyatta had branded as “crooks” after they voided the August election.
Treating the shooting as a regular crime angered the judges, who demanded they get extra security, the judicial source said.
“In Kenya, ordinary criminals don’t attack government vehicles driven by armed government agents who know how to shoot,” the source said.
The justices demanded that their security should be publicly guaranteed given the tensions over the election or else they would refuse to attend hearings, the source said. At least 55 people have died in political violence since the August vote.
The European Union monitoring mission raised the issue of intimidation after the Supreme Court hearing failed to go ahead on Oct. 25, saying it was vital that judges be allowed to work “in freedom and safety”.
“The lack of a quorum is highly unusual for a Supreme Court hearing and has raised serious questions among Kenyan stakeholders, including about possible political interference,” it said in a statement that day.
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Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg
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Kenyan Supreme Court judges denied extra security after shooting – source

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga called for calm on Sunday as he visited a slum in the capital that was hit by violence when a political stand-off over a repeat presidential election fed into rising ethnic tensions.
<div class="PrimaryAsset_container_2pnvl" data-reactid="39">
<div id="attachment_282846" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-282846" class="wp-image-282846 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/1571595826001_5560783766001_5560776180001-vs.jpeg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" />Odinga speaks out as Kenya court nullifies president&#8217;s election win</div>
Clashes in Kawangware and in a village in western Kenya following Thursday’s vote were the first signs that face-offs between Odinga supporters and the police might eventually morph into neighbours turning against each other.
“A country cannot be ruled by the gun. Standing here in this church we want to condemn the militarisation of politics in this country,” Odinga told residents in the Nairobi slum.
The veteran opposition leader had boycotted the re-run of an August presidential election that was nullified by Kenya’s Supreme Court on procedural grounds, leaving President Uhuru Kenyatta with an almost free run against six minor candidates.
On Friday, a day after the repeat vote was held in most of the country, ethnic violence in Kawangware saw dozens of homes and shops torched and one man killed. Most of buildings torched belonged to residents from the Kenyatta’s Kikuyu tribe.
One man from Odinga’s Luo group was killed overnight near Koguta village in the west of the country, after residents from two ethnic groups backing different candidates armed themselves.
If such isolated incidents become a trend, it could ignite large swathes of Kenya, as happened after a 2007 presidential election when weeks of violence left 1,200 dead. That sent ripples throughout East Africa, which relies on Kenya as a trade and diplomatic hub.
In his speech, Odinga condemned violence generally and did not single out any particular attack.
“We have come here to give consolation to those who were beaten and killed. We as NASA condemn what happened,” he told worshippers at a church in Kawangware, referring to his National Super Alliance, an opposition coalition.
Odinga boycotted Thursday’s vote because he said the contest would not be fair. Instead, he wanted the Oct. 26 contest dismissed and fresh elections held within 90 days.
His withdrawal means Kenyans are watching the turnout, rather than the result, for an indication of Kenyatta’s popularity for a second, five-year term.
Results published on Sunday by the election commission showed that Kenyatta had won slightly more than 98 percent of the vote with results in from 244 out of 291 constituencies.
Turnout for the constituencies counted so far was 43 percent. That figure is likely to decrease when it includes returns of 0 from least 23 constituencies where authorities were unable to open even a single polling station because of protests by Odinga’s supporters.
The election board planned to try to hold elections there on Saturday, but postponed the plan amid fears of further violence.
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Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Catherine Evans
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Kenya opposition leader calls for calm in slum hit by deadly violence

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has won over 96 percent of the votes counted so far from Thursday’s re-run election, according to a local media tally of numbers released at the constituency level by the election commission.
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he tally, compiled by the Daily Nation media group with 200 of 292 constituencies having reported, showed Kenyatta had won 5.58 million votes, well ahead of rival Raila Odinga, who has boycotted the process.
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Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Ed Cropley
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Kenya president ahead with 96% support – partial tally

Results of Kenya’s presidential election re-run started to trickle in on Friday, with early estimates of the turnout at below 35 percent, dealing a blow to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s hopes for a decisive second-term mandate.
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With nearly all followers of opposition leader Raila Odinga heeding the veteran’s call for a boycott, Kenyatta’s victory is not in question.
Less clear is his ability to unite the east African nation, whose deep ethnic divisions have been exposed during the bloody and controversial election process and multiple court cases in the past three months.
The first election, in August, was annulled by the courts because of procedural irregularities, denying Kenyatta a simple victory over his long-term political rival.
Voting on Thursday was marred by skirmishes between police and stone-throwing opposition supporters, who prevented polling stations from opening in four pro-Odinga counties, forcing election officials to postpone the exercise by 48 hours.
The election commission said more than one in 10 polling stations failed to open. Its chairman, Wafula Chebukati, Tweeted overnight that 6.55 million ballots had been cast &#8211; just 34.5 percent of registered voters.
By contrast, turnout in the August election was 80 percent.
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The outcome is being closely watched across East Africa, which relies on Kenya as a trade and logistics hub, and in the West, which considers Nairobi a bulwark against Islamist militancy in Somalia and conflict in South Sudan and Burundi.
In the western city of Kisumu, police used tear gas and fired live rounds over the heads of stone-throwing youths. Gunfire killed one protester and wounded three, a nurse said.
In Homa Bay county next door, police said they shot dead one protester and injured another.
There were similar scenes in Kibera and Mathare, two volatile Nairobi slums. At least one person was shot in the leg, a Red Cross official said, and a church was fire-bombed.
Around 50 people have been killed, mostly by security forces, since the original Aug. 8 vote, raising fears of sustained violence only a decade after 1,200 people were killed in serious ethnic fighting triggered by another disputed vote.
Legal challenges to the re-run are expected. If they fail to provide a clear path out of the crisis, including an order for another re-run, many Kenyans are fearing protracted political stalemate between the Kenyatta and Odinga camps.
“Unless the courts annul the election, Kenyatta will move forward without a clear mandate and Odinga will pursue a protest strategy whose chances of success in the circumstances are not very high,” said International Crisis Group analyst Murithi Mutiga.
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Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore
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Low turnout taints Kenyatta victory in Kenya election re-run

Kenyan police sealed off the Supreme Court building in the capital on Wednesday as judges prepared to hear a petition to delay this week’s presidential election, a re-run of an August vote that was nullified by the same court.
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Streets around the court in downtown Nairobi were blocked by police barriers and officers in anti-riot gear.
The court, created by a 2010 constitution that followed a violent political crisis three years earlier, is due to hear several cases challenging the legality of Thursday’s election, which is being boycotted by opposition leader Raila Odinga.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, who won the August election before it was annulled due to procedural irregularities, has made clear he wants the vote to go ahead although some in his party fear Odinga’s boycott will undermine the credibility of any victory.
One petition, brought by prominent human rights activist Khelef Khalifa, is calling for a delay in the vote on grounds that the election board is not sufficiently prepared.
Around 1,200 people were killed in ethnic clashes after the disputed election in 2007. Since the August vote, nearly 50 people have been killed in political unrest, almost all of them at the hands of the police.
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Reporting by George Obulutsa; Editing by Ed Cropley
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Kenyan police seal off Supreme Court ahead of vote delay hearing

The Kenyan shilling dropped to 103.75/85 per dollar on Monday, its lowest level since mid-August, traders said, mainly due to concerns about potential violence during a repeat presidential scheduled for Oct. 26.
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Opposition leader Raila Odinga has told supporters to boycott of the election, alleging polls won’t be free and fair. His call for national protests has raised fears that opposition supporters may be drawn into confrontations with police.
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Reporting by Duncan Miriri; editing by Katharine Houreld
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Kenyan shilling falls to lowest since mid-August on election jitters

Kenyan prosecutors will charge the sister of opposition leader Raila Odinga and opposition senator Fred Outa with incitement to violence and other crimes after attacks on staff of the election board last week, the chief prosecutor’s office said on Monday.
<div id="attachment_282846" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-282846" class="wp-image-282846 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/1571595826001_5560783766001_5560776180001-vs.jpeg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" />Raila Odinga speaks out as Kenya court nullifies president&#8217;s election win.</div>
Odinga has been due to compete against incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta in a repeat presidential election on Oct. 26, but pulled out earlier this month, saying the polls would not be free and fair and calling for a boycott of the vote.
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reporting by Duncan Miriri; writing by Katharine Houreld; editing by John Stonestreet
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Kenya to charge opposition leader’s sister with incitement to violence

Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto said on Tuesday there would be no problem if the election board agrees to meet a raft of demands made by the opposition ahead of a repeat presidential vote on Oct. 26.
The Supreme Court annulled an Aug. 8 vote at the start of September after opposition leader Raila Odinga challenged the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Odinga has withdrawn from the repeat poll, saying the election board had failed to meet a list of conditions his coalition said would guarantee fairness. He has called for daily protests to force the reforms.
“If they (the election board) chose to have a discussion with our competitors with a view to firing this member of staff or firing that member of that staff or changing a supplier &#8230; so long as the elections are there, we will participate,” Ruto told reporters.
Ruto accused Odinga of trying to spark chaos through the protests in order to get a negotiated settlement, which Kenyatta’s side was not prepared to accept, he said.
Under the constitution, the repeat election must be held within 60 days of the Sept. 1 invalidation. The election board says it will to go ahead with the vote but Odinga’s withdrawal has caused concerns of a political crisis.
“It is a manufactured situation to achieve a political end and that is what we must resist,” he said.
Odinga was looking for a way out of the election after realizing he was not likely to win, Ruto said.
“They wanted a repeat election, they have a repeat election. They don’t want to participate. What do they want?” he said.
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Reporting by Katharine Houreld; Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Paul Tait
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Kenya’s deputy president says happy for election board to meet opposition demands

Dominic Burbidge |University of Oxford
The leader of Kenya’s opposition coalition, Raila Odinga, has withdrawnfrom the repeat presidential election ordered by the country’s Supreme Court. Only two candidates were scheduled to compete in the upcoming poll, the other being the incumbent president, Uhuru Kenyatta.
A day after Odinga’s withdrawal, the Kenyan High Court ruled in favourof including another presidential candidate in the ballot, meaning that the election is now likely to go ahead. The new candidate, Ekuru Aukot, was an interested party in the Supreme Court case that invalidated the August 8th election.
Odinga’s pullout came in protest at the perceived inability of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to carry out a free and fair election.
In the recent petition to the Supreme Court, his National Super Alliance (NASA) accused the electoral commission of having failed in its duties to conduct an election, and demonstrated clear evidence of irregularities such as missing and forged electoral forms.
The Supreme Court found in favour of the opposition coalition, and so fresh elections were scheduled within 60 days.
While there is consistency to Odinga’s distrust of the electoral commission, his position holds no legal consistency. The opposition made a petition to the Supreme Court and should therefore abide by its ruling.
The court found that the electoral commission failed to conduct the election appropriately, but that there were no grounds for saying Kenyatta’s coalition, the Jubilee Alliance, had been the ones to rig it.
Odinga’s opposition coalition petitioned the courts and got the result they wanted. They should therefore have stood by the ruling and continued to follow constitutional channels. By withdrawing Odinga is terminating the country’s democratic processes. If the need for IEBC reform was enough reason to delay the election further, a case could have been brought to the Supreme Court on this basis.
The IEBC is a commission created by the Constitution, meaning its duty to conduct free and fair elections is a democratic fundamental. As such, political opposition to its operations has a clear legal remedy. Instead, Odinga’s abandonment of the process has handed legal credibility to his rivals.
Kenya is in uncharted territory. The group that sought free and fair elections through lawful means – the opposition coalition – has now abandoned trust in the constitutional commission set up to bring about the poll.
In making the decision Odinga has also signed a death sentence on his political career stretching back 40 years.
<h2>A history of hard fought battles</h2>
Odinga has had a lot of practice over very many years in navigating the difficult path between acting according to the rules of the system and opposing manipulation of those rules.
In 2002 he joined a broader inter-ethnic coalition to force leadership away from the Kenya African National Union (KANU). In power since independence in 1963, KANU had consistently thwarted the emergence of free and fair elections in Kenya in the 1990s under President Daniel arap Moi.
But those who initially spearheaded the inter-ethnic alliance also seemed to abuse the system to their advantage in the 2007 elections. Odinga led popular protests against the swearing-in of President Mwai Kibaki in complaint of this. The standoff plunged the country into one of its worst periods of political violence, with over 1,000 dead and hundreds of thousands internally displaced.
In 2013 Odinga took the disputed election results to the courts. But the Supreme Court allowed Kenyatta’s election to stand.
Many therefore felt that Odinga had finally got the democracy he’d fought for when the Supreme Court invalidated the 2017 results and ordered fresh elections. But that conclusion appears to have been premature. Odinga’s exit from the democratic process means opposition supporters’ faith in the system is at the point of collapse.
Odinga has been consistent in his criticisms of the electoral commission. And he has acted in a principled way. He should be praised for both.
Indeed, the failure of the electoral commission dates back as far as the constitutional referendum in 2010. A British court found that electoral commissioners accepted bribes from a UK firm to win the contract for printing ballot papers. In the 2017 elections, the accusation was that the local tallies did not match the central tallies being received electronically in Nairobi. The physical forms that would have reconciled the differences were then said to have been lost.
Despite the catastrophic failure to conduct this year’s election appropriately, the electoral commission chairperson refused to stand down, reducing public credibility in the institution to nil.
<h2>Complete new election?</h2>
The NASA coalition has tried to substantiate its position. Technically-speaking, they say, their withdrawal means no election can take place, and so a complete new election should be organised. So rather than Kenyatta being handed victory on a plate, a longer time for fresh elections would be given, with all allowed to compete as if it were a very first round. That would provide a breather of at least 90 days, with additional time for parties to nominate new leaders.
But such a legal argument is fanciful. It is based on a misreading of article 138 (8) (b) of Kenya’s Constitution which says that a complete new election must be organised if one of the candidates dies during the campaign period. The NASA coalition are arguing that their withdrawal from the elections is an abandonment that is forced by the failure of the electoral commission, and therefore tantamount to the death of a leader during the campaign period.
If they believe this is a solid legal argument, they can again petition the courts to invalidate the preparations for the fresh elections. But the legal argument is weak, and I doubt they will try this route.
The twist that NASA did not expect was the High Court ruling that a minor candidate is allowed to take the place of Odinga. That will mean an election that gives greater validity to Kenyatta’s inevitable victory – an enormous blow to Odinga’s strategy.
The High Court decision to include Ekuru Aukot is based on the fact that he was part of the original case that disputed the 2017 election results. But the court has made a grave error of legal judgment: Aukot was an ‘interested party’ to that case, not one of the ‘petitioners’. This is, in legal terms, a big difference. If he was a successful petitioner in the Supreme Court case, and therefore a valid candidate now, the fresh elections should have involved him from the start and been contested by three candidates.
One cannot simply add candidates as one goes to make the election look competitive.
In any case, the inclusion of Aukot will be of no consequence to the result. In the disputed 8 August polls he received a mere 0.18% of the vote, making him the 5th placed candidate. That compares against a supposed 54.17% for Kenyatta.
The electoral commission will, however turbulently, take forward the court judgments and hold an election between Kenyatta and Aukot. The polls will certainly mean Kenyatta is declared President of Kenya for his second term in a row.
This is the fault of Odinga who has taken the decision to exit lawful processes prematurely. The road to competitive free and fair elections in Kenya extends ever longer into the horizon.

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