President Nana Akufo-Addo has extended his warmest regards to President Uhuru Kenyatta “on his hard-fought victory and emphatic re-election” in Kenya’s August 8 presidential election.
He also lauded the defeated Raila Odinga’s decision to head to Kenya’s Supreme Court to contest the validity of the elections which Foreign observers had described as free and fair.
The election was seen as a key test of Kenya’s stability given the ethnic tensions that manifested before in violent clashes after the 2007 elections, where some 1,200 people were killed and more than 500,000 displaced.
“His main contender, former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, is also to be commended for the peaceful manner in which he conducted his campaign, and for indicating his decision to seek redress in Kenya’s Supreme Court over the results of the election,” he said in a statement.
Mr Odinga, who has said the poll was rigged, had previously refused to appeal to the Supreme Court.
President Kenyatta, who has been in office since 2013, took 54.3% of votes, ahead of Mr.Odinga, with 44.7%.
Redress in the Supreme Court is an avenue President Nana Akufo-Addo is well familiar with as he also resorted to the Supreme Court to contest the legitimacy of the 2012 election which he lost narrowly to John Mahama.
The election was not without some minor incidents after protesters and police in Kenya have clashed Odinga first claimed he was cheated of victory by a hacking attack that he said manipulated the election results.
Find below Nana Addo’s full message
This is to extend my warm congratulations to President Uhuru Kenyatta, on his hard-fought victory and emphatic re-election in the Kenyan presidential election of August 8, 2017.
His main contender, former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, is also to be commended for the peaceful manner in which he conducted his campaign, and for indicating his decision to seek redress in Kenya’s Supreme Court over the results of the election.
The Kenyan people, by this vote, have moved to strengthen the frontiers of their democracy, and it is my hope that, regardless of the decision taken by Kenya’s Supreme Court, the delivery of progress and prosperity to the Kenyan people will continue in a process of national reconciliation and in conditions of freedom and the rule of law to the benefit of the welfare and stability of the Kenyan nation.
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Nana Akufo-Addo
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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana