The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenya’s defeated opposition faced mounting calls at home and abroad to calm their supporters Sunday after claims of election rigging sparked violent protests that left at least 11 people dead.
Odinga’s flashpoint strongholds in western Kisumu and Nairobi’s slums were quiet Sunday, with signs life was returning to normal after two days of running battles with police. Officers in some clashes used live ammunition to disperse stone-throwing, tyre-burning residents, with tear gas also fired.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged thwarted presidential candidate Raila Odinga to “send a clear message to his supporters urging them to refrain from violence”, a message echoed by British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
The anger erupted on Friday night after President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the victor by a large margin against his rival Odinga following an election pollsters had described as too close to call.
Odinga’s National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition has insisted their candidate is the rightful winner, saying he was robbed of victory through hacking and manipulation of an electronic vote tallying system.
However calls for them to take their grievances to court, while Kenya’s foreign partners heap congratulations on Kenyatta, have left them isolated and under mounting pressure.
Odinga, 72, a mainstay of the Kenyan opposition since the 1980s, has been silent since his loss was announced, but his party officials have said they will neither back down nor take their grievances to court.
“We will not be cowed, we will not relent,” NASA official Johnson Muthama told reporters on Saturday.
Statement by Kofi Annan on Elections in Kenya. #electionske FILE PHOTO https://t.co/hXLSndJq2k pic.twitter.com/Kf4M6nfjyh
— The Independent (@UGIndependent) August 12, 2017
In Nairobi’s Mathare slum, shops and markets slowly began opening and there was no sign of police or protesters Sunday morning.
“We want to hear Raila. We want to hear what he has to say. It’s him who will guide us. If he tells us to go on the streets, we will go on the streets. If he wants us to stay home, we will stay stay home,” said 25-year-old hairdresser Humpfrey Songole in Mathare. (read Kenya tribal politics Page 2)
– ‘Exercise restraint’ –
Muthama claimed that 100 people had been killed, without providing evidence. According to an AFP tally, 11 people have died since the result was announced Friday.
The toll includes a young girl whose family said she had been shot in the back while playing on a balcony in Mathare as police opened fire on protesters. Eight others died in the capital, while one demonstrator was shot dead in western Kisumu county and another in southwestern Siaya.
The Doctors without Borders (MSF) charity said on Twitter that it had treated 54 wounded people in its clinics.
