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Journalism of Courage
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has been sworn into office for a second term in front of tens of thousands who gathered Tuesday in the country’s largest stadium after a months-long election controversy. Kenyatta was sworn in using a Bible that had been used to swear in his father, founding President Jomo Kenyatta, at independence in 1963.
The ceremony was held as police fired guns and tear gas in other parts of the capital, Nairobi, as officers attempted to stop the opposition from holding peaceful demonstrations in memory of dozens killed by police and militia during election protests.
Elsewhere in Nairobi, police patrolled the Jacaranda grounds where the leading opposition group, the National Super Alliance, had urged supporters to gather to remember those killed in post-election protests since August. Kenya’s election drama meant months of uncertainty in East Africa’s economic hub. The Supreme Court nullified the August election results, citing irregularities, after a legal challenge by opposition leader Raila Odinga and ordered a new vote.
Odinga and his supporters then boycotted the repeat election last month, saying electoral reforms had not been made. Many opposition supporters on Tuesday were heeding Odinga’s call to gather and remember those killed in the months of turmoil. Odinga has called Kenyatta’s inauguration a “coronation” instead.
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