KENYANS ELECT UHURU KENYATTA PRESIDENT

                 

 The son of the founding president of Kenya and Deputy Prime Minister, Uhuru Kenyatta has won the presidential election which was held on Friday by a slim margin with 50.03 per cent. Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Kenyatta’s arch rival, trailed with 43.28 per cent of the vote. The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has declared that Kenyatta got 6, 173, 433 votes while odinga secured 5,340,546 votes. The total ballots cast were 12,338,667. This result is enough to avoid a run-off that has caused division among the Kenyans along tribal lines. An adviser to Odinga said he would not concede the election and would challenge Kenyatta in court.

However, the election of Uhuru Kenyatta will undoubtedly bring unhealthy relations between Kenya and her big Western donor countries. This is because he is facing trial at the International Criminal Court in the Hague for crimes against humanity having been accused of instigating the tribal violence some five years ago after the presidential election that produced President Nwai Kibaki for a second term in office. Kenyatta becomes the second African president after Omar al-Bashir of Sudan to have been indicted by the International Criminal Court. Kenyatta’s running mate William Ruto has also been indicted by the same International Criminal Court for the offence.