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And how would Kenyatta react to Odinga’s reaction?
By John Eche
Following the formal declaration of Uhuru Kenyatta as the winner of the recently conducted second ballot vote in Kenya, there is tension and anxiety as the country waits for the formal post-victory reaction of opposition leader, Raila Odinga.
It will be recalled that Odinga had boycotted the re-run, insisting that a new electoral commission be empanelled for its conduct. Failing to secure that, he and his associates have been loud in denouncing the process since then even as there have been soundbites that in the aftermath of Uhuru being declared winner, his camp may be forced to take actions ranging from calling for a regime of civil disobedience to forming an alternative government.
At the other end of the spectrum, it is yet unclear how the Kenyatta government would respond to any such scenario but Deputy President, Samuel Ruto, only on Monday, plainly asked the Odinga camp to give up on any illusions they may be harbouring at the moment, insisting that there would be no other elections in Kenya until 2022.
Also on the score is the fact that like Ruto, returning President, Uhuru Kenyatta has over time very plainly demonstrated and asserted that he was determined to win the elections even if it was conducted over and over!’
In the formal results of the rerun contest announced on Monday, the Kenyatta-Ruto slate secured 98 percent of all the votes cast. But then the results also showed that only 38.8 per cent of the over 16 million registered voters had cast their votes.
Periodic incidents of violence have already been witnessed in the run-up to, as well as the process of polling on both occasions and the hope of many is that irrespective of how things turn out, the contending leaders would yet be able to ensure that Kenya does not slip back into its previous heady days of post-election violence as was witnessed in the last decade.
Kenya opposition leader, Raila Odinga
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