Kenya's Supreme Court
ruled on Saturday Uhuru Kenyatta was elected president fairly, unanimously
rejecting a challenge from defeated candidate Raila Odinga that the vote was
marred by rigging and technical problems.
The decision cleared the way for Kenya's richest
man to take the top job in east Africa's biggest economy, but left foreign
powers with the headache of dealing with a leader charged with crimes against
humanity at The Hague. Kenya's outgoing president had called for calm ahead of the judgment
which came five years after another ballot dispute triggered widespread
bloodshed. "It is the decision of the court that the third and fourth
respondents were validly elected," Chief Justice Willy Mutunga said in
court, referring to Kenyatta and his running mate and deputy president William
Ruto. He said the court had done its duty at a
historical moment. "It is now for the Kenyan people, their leaders, civil society,
the private sector and the media to discharge (their duty), to ensure that the
unity, peace, sovereignty and prosperity of the nation is preserved," he
added. After a week of hearings, the court had
unanimously decided the March 4 vote was conducted in a free, fair and credible
manner in line with the constitution, he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment