Thousands cheer as Kenyatta sworn in
Source: Agencies |
April 10, 2013, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
UHURU Kenyatta was sworn in as the Kenya's fourth president yesterday in a stadium filled with tens of thousands of Kenyans and a dozen African leaders.
Kenyatta, 51, the son of Kenya's first president, becomes the second sitting African president to face charges at the International Criminal Court over allegations he helped orchestrate the vicious tribe-on-tribe violence that marred Kenya's 2007 presidential election.
Uganda's president and Kenya's new deputy president used the swearing-in to take clear swipes at the ICC and at a US warning before the March 4 election that a Kenyatta win would carry "consequences" for Kenya.
"I want to salute the Kenyan voters on one other issue - the rejection of the blackmail by the International Criminal Court and those who seek to abuse this institution for their own agenda," Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni told the cheering crowd, adding: "They are now using it to install leaders of their choice in Africa and eliminate the ones they do not like."
Deputy President William Ruto noted that he and Kenyatta won in the first round of voting despite the US warning.
A jubilant crowd swathed in Kenyatta's campaign color of red loudly interrupted the swearing-in with rapturous cheers.
The ceremony stood in stark contrast to a rushed ceremony closed to the public five years ago to swear in outgoing President Mwai Kibaki, whom political opponents accused of stealing the 2007 vote. Those suspicions set off weeks of violence that killed more than 1,000 people.
Kenyatta, 51, the son of Kenya's first president, becomes the second sitting African president to face charges at the International Criminal Court over allegations he helped orchestrate the vicious tribe-on-tribe violence that marred Kenya's 2007 presidential election.
Uganda's president and Kenya's new deputy president used the swearing-in to take clear swipes at the ICC and at a US warning before the March 4 election that a Kenyatta win would carry "consequences" for Kenya.
"I want to salute the Kenyan voters on one other issue - the rejection of the blackmail by the International Criminal Court and those who seek to abuse this institution for their own agenda," Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni told the cheering crowd, adding: "They are now using it to install leaders of their choice in Africa and eliminate the ones they do not like."
Deputy President William Ruto noted that he and Kenyatta won in the first round of voting despite the US warning.
A jubilant crowd swathed in Kenyatta's campaign color of red loudly interrupted the swearing-in with rapturous cheers.
The ceremony stood in stark contrast to a rushed ceremony closed to the public five years ago to swear in outgoing President Mwai Kibaki, whom political opponents accused of stealing the 2007 vote. Those suspicions set off weeks of violence that killed more than 1,000 people.
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