Kenya’s main opposition group, NASA, on Sunday shelved plans to swear in its leader Raila Odinga as an alternative president so as to give way for negotiation with President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Mr Odinga in a statement said “We are aware that this will be a disappointment to the people of Kenya who were eagerly waiting for this occasion, we wish to assure them that our resolve has not changed. Specifically, we wish to reiterate that any national dialogue must have electoral justice on the agenda. We are not interested in sharing illegitimate dictatorial power.”
The Opposition coalition NASA had planned to publicly “inaugurate” Odinga at a rally on December 12, Tuesday, Kenyan independence day a move the country’s attorney general said would be an act of treason.
Kenya’s government said last week the ceremony would amount to treason and the US urged the opposition to cancel it amid concerns it might end in violence.
Kenyatta was re-elected as Kenya’s president with 98 percent of the vote in a repeat election held on Oct. 26 which Odinga boycotted. He had beaten Odinga in the original poll, held in August, which was nullified by the Supreme Court on procedural grounds following opposition allegations of vote-rigging and other malpractices.
Raila Odinga said he doesn’t recognize Kenyatta as the country’s lawful leader, the Supreme Court ordered for a rerun which was boycotted by Odinga’s party, NASA.
