International
Kenyatta sworn-in as Kenyan president for second & final five-year term
55-year-old President Uhuru Kenyatta has been sworn in to lead Kenya for a second and final five-year term in an event witnessed by several heads of states and tens of thousands of his supporters.
His is inauguration staged at a stadium in the capital, Nairobi, is coming a month after he was declared the winner in a bitterly disputed election rerun marked by delays and boycott by opposition party led by Raila Odinga.
Last week, Kenya’s Supreme Court upheld the presidential re-run election won by Kenyatta.
The country’s apex court dismissed the case filed by the opposition, which boycotted the poll, clearing the way for Kenyatta to be sworn in for a second and final term in office.
The six-man panel of judges, after hearing two days of arguments, said the two petitions demanding the cancellation of the polls were “without merit”.
Read also: KENYA: Supreme Court upholds Kenyatta’s victory in re-run elections
The Supreme Court had in August cancelled the presidential poll which was won by Kenyatta citing irregularities and mismanagement by the electoral commission, and ordered a re-run to be held within 60 days.
Nigeria’s Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is representing Nigeria at the swearing in ceremony.
Meanwhile, scores of opposition coalition and supporters attempted to gather for a “memorial rally” to honour the more than 50 people killed, mostly by security forces, in four months of political violence.
But according to Al Jazeera’s Fahmida Miller, reporting from Nairobi, police cordoned off the grounds where the opposition were planning to hold their rally.
“Police have been out in force to prevent people from gathering and have fired tear gas to disperse people trying to reach the grounds. The local government has said the planned opposition rally is illegal,” Miller said.
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