Police kill two after Kenyatta wins ballot
KENYA: Kenya’s supreme court upheld Uhuru Kenyatta’s contentious re-election as president yesterday, a ruling that triggered fresh bloodshed and seemed all but certain to deepen the country’s protracted political crisis.
Two people were killed as police opened fire on protesters who gathered in opposition strongholds, increasing the death toll since Friday to 17, the deadliest phase in three months of violence.
Having overturned Kenyatta’s first election victory in August, the court’s endorsement of the rerun might once have calmed tensions in a country with a reputation as among Africa’s most stable.
However, Kenyatta’s rival, Raila Odinga, boycotted the second poll, claiming it would be no fairer than the first, and Kenya remains mired in one of its most serious political crises since independence from Britain in 1963.
Nearly two in three Kenyans declined to participate in last month’s election, but Kenyatta’s government attempted to burnish his international legitimacy by claiming that Britain had rushed to congratulate the president.
A Kenyan government official said Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson had spoken to Amina Mohammed, his Kenyan counterpart, and had pledged to ‘‘deepen’’ ties with the country in the wake of the court ruling.
If Kenyatta, who will be sworn in next week, is struggling to win enthusiastic support from Western powers, his domestic challenges are even greater.
Odinga, who is in Zanzibar, said: ‘‘We in NASA had repeatedly declared before this supreme court ruling today that we consider this government to be illegitimate and do not recognise it.’’
– Telegraph Group