Violence in Nairobi after Kenyatta wins election

Supporters of defeated presidential rival Odinga set homes on fire in protest over ‘missing votes’

GUNFIRE echoed through the slums of Nairobi last night after Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner of a disputed presidential election, triggering a violent outpouring of anger in opposition strongholds. Screams and gunshots could be heard after the electoral commission sought to end a four-day impasse over the outcome of Tuesday’s vote by announcing Mr Kenyatta’s sweeping victory over Raila Odinga.

The president secured a second fiveyear term after winning 54 per cent of the vote, a 1.4million margin that was larger than opinion polls suggested.

The opposition rejected the result even before it was announced, complaining of “systematic” fraud.

With violent protests also being reported in Kisumu, Kenya’s third city, there were fears that the former British colony could witness a reprise of the violence that claimed 1,300 lives after Mr Odinga’s defeat in another election 10 years ago.

Members of Mr Odinga’s Luo ethnic group attacked property belonging to the president’s Kikuyu tribe in Nairobi’s Kibera slum as police struggled to control the violence, despite being deployed in record numbers.

“They are burning down Kikuyu homes,” a resident said. With 180,000 security personnel drawn from the army, police and even the forestry service on standby, Kenyan authorities hoped to stop the violence quickly.

“There are gunshots all over,” Lucas Odhiambo, a Kisumu resident, was quoted as saying. “We don’t know how it will end but we pray for peace.”

Mr Kenyatta appealed for calm but there was no word from his vanquished rival, who has hinted that he may take his battle for the presidency, which he claimed to have won, to the streets.

Moments before the official announcement was made, the opposition rejected the result and walked out of the main election centre.

“We are not going to be party to this,” Musalia Mudavadi, one of the opposition coalition’s five leaders, said. “Our issues have not been addressed.”

Defying international pressure, the Odinga campaign ruled out a legal challenge. “For us going to court is not an alternative,” James Orengo, a manager of the Odinga campaign, said. “We have been there before.”

Earlier, Mr Odinga claimed that the electoral system had been hacked to alter the result in favour of his opponent and later accused the electoral commission of deliberately concealing the true result of, which he said he had obtained from a whistleblower.

The electoral commission said it had investigated and refuted Mr Odinga’s claims, but had been unable to explain why key documentation that would confirm results submitted by returning officers was apparently missing from a quarter of the country’s 41,000 polling stations.