The US has condemned the self-proclamation of Kenyan opposition leader, Raila Odinga as “people’s president,” and also criticized the government’s crackdown on some broadcasting stations that tried to cover it live.
The 73-year old veteran of opposition politics held the swearing-in ceremony in Nairobi last week as thousands of his supporters cheered him, an action that was clearly intended to show President Uhuru Kenyatta that the opposition does not accept his re-election last year.
The authorities blocked the event’s live feeds of three main private television channels, but the country’s High Court ruled that the stations should resume service the next day.
Reacting to the development at the weekend, the US State Department spokeswoman, Heather Nauert said, “The United States is gravely concerned by Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga’s self-‘inauguration’ on January 30”.
Mrs. Nauert went further, “Grievances must be resolved through appropriate legal mechanisms”. The US also criticized “the government’s action to shut down, intimidate, and restrict the media.”
Mr. Odinga, the presidential candidate of the opposition coalition known as NASA, has refused to accept the re-election of the incumbent leader, Uhuru Kenyatta, which came after the highly controversial polls held twice last year. Although the election palaver did not engender the type of bloodshed spilled in 2007, human rights watchers say that close to 90 innocent Kenyans were killed.
The first election, held on August 8, was won by President Kenyatta and then annulled in a historic decision by the Supreme Court, which ordered a re-run on October 26.
But Raila Odinga claimed that the poll would not be fair unless some specific reforms of the electoral process were carried out . The government ignored his submissions which provided him the caveat to boycott the second vote. As it turned out the incumbent President Kenyatta won in a landslide. To make matters worse for Raila Odinga, the apex court upheld the re-run poll. And President Kenyatta was duly sworn in for a second term.