Kenya Election: US Steps In To Forestall Violence

A delegation of lawmakers from the United States of America (USA) has met Kenya’s presidential aspirant, Raila Odinga and his female running mate, Martha Karua over the presidential election results.

The visit comes after the European Union issued a statement to call for peace in the resolution of the dispute surrounding the election results.

In a tweet Raila Odiga who has been a five-time presidential aspirant said “We held candid discussions on developments around our general election and bilateral relations with the Congressional delegation of the US Senate and House of Representatives”.

He noted that he maintained his party’s commitment to deal with their grievances in the law court during the meeting.

“We reiterated our commitment to pursuing legal means to resolve issues around the election results.”

On August 16, 2022, a day after Kenya’s presidential election results were announced, Raila Odinga rejected the results during a press conference and announced plans to seek redress in court following the country’s electoral Commission Chairman’s declaration of William Ruto as president-elect.

“The figures announced by Chebukati are null and void and must be quashed by a court of law. We totally and without reservations, reject the presidential results announced by Mr Chebukati. In our view, there is neither a legally or validly declared winner nor a president-elect”, Raila Odinga said.

Four out of the seven electoral officials also disputed the result over what they indicated as erroneous calculations.

“We therefore decline to take ownership of the said result because the aggregation resulted in a total exceeding the percentage of 100 which cast doubt on the accuracy of the source of the figures tallied. And when we demanded that we verify our records, the Chairman declined”, Juliana Cherera, vice chair of the electoral commission said.

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini