On March 9, 2013, the Chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission ( IEBC) Issack Hassan declared Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta as the fourth President of Kenya.
Deputy President William Ruto (left) and President Uhuru Kenyatta
Uhuru had garnered 6,173,433 votes out of 12,330,028 total votes cast in the March 4 General Election against his closest rival Raila Odinga who managed 5,340,546 votes.
Uhuru who had flown the Jubilee flag had managed to secure 50.07 per cent of the vote – a requisite for one to be declared winner of an election.
The announcement brought jubilation to Uhuru supporters as well as those of William Samoei Ruto, his running mate, even as it brought sorrow and disappointment to Raila and Kalonzo Musyoka supporters.
Raila and Kalonzo who were flying the Cord flag disputed the results and moved to the Supreme Court to contest the results. However, the six-judge bench of Supreme Court unanimously confirmed UhuRuto win, setting the stage for their inauguration on April 9.
However, the story of both Uhuru and Ruto’s journey to victory had been long and tumultuous.
Not that Uhuru and Ruto were strange bedfellows but they had faced similar obstacles that could have blocked them from ascending to power.
In December 2010, Uhuru and Ruto, alongside former Minster Henry Kosgey, former Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura, former Police Commissioner Hussein Ali and radio journalist Joshua arap Sang were named by ICC prosecutor as bearing the greatest responsibility for the 2007/8 post-election violence in which over 1,500 Kenyans were killed.
But in what appears to be a blessing in disguise, the common predicament facing the duo (Uhuru and Ruto) became a glue that cemented their political alliance.
The two, who hitherto were political enemies, devised a plot to use ICC cases to lobby support amongst their communities by alleging that The Hague-based court was being used by rivals who were kin to eliminate them from the Kibaki succession.
The message seemed to have sunk well, with Central and Rift Valley becoming strongholds of the two leaders. Buoyed by the unprecedented support, Uhuru and Ruto began nationwide prayer rallies, which were largely used to bash the ICC and its local ‘ally’ and antagonist Raila Odinga.
Indeed politicians allied to the yet-to-be-born Jubilee alliance, accused Raila of working with the international community to lock his rivals from the race, allegations that the former PM vehemently denied.
At one time, activists moved to the Supreme Court seeking the highest court in the land to bar persons facing international court to run for office. However, the Supreme Court referred the matter to the High Court, which ruled that only convicted persons who had explored all avenues for appeal cannot run for an office, therefore clearing the path for them to contest.
As the polls drew closer, Ruto formerly joined United Republican Party (URP) while Uhuru formally decamped from Kanu and formed The National Alliance (TNA).
After building their political houses, the two leaders signed a coalition agreement between TNA and URP that saw Uhuru becoming the presidential candidate and Ruto the running mate.
In February 2013, a month to the polls, the United States (US) Government issued a statement saying they will not take any sides in the elections but warned that “choices have consequences”.
US top diplomat for Africa said the duty of electing Kenyan leaders rests with its people but added the rider that “choices have consequences”.
Crimes against humanity
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson refrained in a press conference from naming Jubilee presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta or his running mate William Ruto, who were facing crimes against humanity charges at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Carson, a former US ambassador to Kenya, did not specifically say that the US-Kenya relations would suffer if Uhuru was elected.
The statement had been preceded by another remark by British High Commissioner Christian Turner who had warned that UK would maintain only “essential contacts” with Nairobi if persons charged in the ICC are elected to office.
These statements provided Jubilee Coalition another weapon in their campaign asking supporters to turn up in large numbers to reject ‘neocolonialism’. And for their spirited campaign, Uhuru and Ruto were rewarded on March 4 when 6.1 million voters gave them the mandate to govern Kenya.
By GEOFFREY MOSOKU, The Standard
