Kenya tensions spike as opposition cries foul over vote result

This is the first time Kenya has deployed the KIEMS technology successfully ~ IEBC Chairman Chebukati.#Ballot2017 pic.twitter.com/xheggIZhWA

— The African Voice (@teddyeugene) August 8, 2017

– ‘Free and fair’ –

IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati insisted the poll was “free and fair”.

“As a commission we shall carry out investigations to establish whether or not the (hacking) claims are true,” he said, adding that the IEBC had a week to release final results.

Raphael Tuju, secretary-general of Kenyatta’s Jubilee party, urged the opposition to “look at the figures soberly” and accept the results.

“You cannot claim that results are fake with respect to presidential vote and you welcome the areas where your governors and MPs have won convincingly. You have to accept the results however they come,” he said.

Odinga urged his supporters to “remain calm as we look deep into this matter.” But he added: “I don’t control the people.”

As his speech ended scores of supporters gathered at a roundabout in Kisumu and began burning tyres, while others gathered in the Nairobi slum of Mathare under a heavy police presence.

Police fired shots into the air and volleys of tear gas to disperse protesters in Mathare who set up burning barricades in some roads.

“If Raila is not president, we can’t have peace,” one Kisumu protester told AFP.

Resident Geoffery Omondi, 22 shook his head as protesters lit a new fire nearby. “It is very painful to watch. The problem is the IEBC who did not announce results well.”

However the protests remained isolated, and in opposition strongholds where elections tend to stoke tensions.

Nevertheless the normally traffic-choked streets of Nairobi remained deserted as the country held its breath over the results.

– Dynastic rivalry –

The contest between Odinga and Kenyatta was seen by pollsters as too close to call ahead of the vote.

It is the second time the two men have faced off in a presidential election, a dynastic rivalry that has lasted more than half a century since their fathers Jomo Kenyatta and Jaramogi Odinga went from allies in the struggle for independence to bitter rivals.

The men belong to two of Kenya’s main ethnic groups, Kenyatta from the Kikuyu, the largest, and Odinga from the Luo.

Both had secured formidable alliances with other influential communities in Kenya, where voting takes place largely along tribal lines.

In 2013 Kenyatta won by 800,000 votes.

Kenyatta, 55, is credited with overseeing steady economic growth of more than five percent. However food prices have soared under his watch and several major corruption scandals broke out in his first term.