Following the rejection of the provisional elections’ results released by the IEBC, there are reports of protests in the opposition strongholds of Kisumu in the Nyanza region and in Mathare, a slum area just on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
The elections yesterday pitted President Uhuru Kenyatta against six other candidates including the National Super Alliance (NASA) presidential aspirant Raila Amollo Odinga.
Indeed, graphic photos by several news agencies have shown riot police engaging the protesters after opposition candidate Raila Amollo Odinga said the elections were massively rigged.
Mr. Odinga, who has rejected the results, has urged his supporters to maintain calm.
“We are telling our people not to accept results, stay calm as we get deep into this. I don’t control the people but I am asking them to remain calm,” Mr. Odinga said.
Mr. Odinga’s running mate, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, also tongue-in-cheek, called for calm.
“Kenyans must remain calm. Return to your offices but there will be a time when we’ll call you to action,” Mr. Musyoka was quoted as saying.
However, the government through the acting interior minister Fred Matiang’i, has denied any outbreaks of violence, as is emerging on social media.
‘Social media claims that we are experiencing riots in some parts of the country are not true,” Mr. Matiang’i said.
Meanwhile, reports indicate that Police fired tear gas as several hundred protesters in the neighbourhood of Kondele — an epicentre of violence after disputed 2007 polls — set fire to barricades and tyres and placed rocks in the streets.
Also, a police helicopter was reported hovering overhead as riot police wielding shields, assault rifles and batons deployed two water trucks to put out the fires.
