Any attempt to swear in parallel president is treason – Kenyan Attorney General

Kenya’s Attorney-General Githu Muigai said on Thursday that any attempt to hold a parallel swearing in of a president would amount to treason.

Muigai did not name anyone but opposition leader Raila Odinga said in November, he would be inaugurated by a people’s assembly on Dec. 12, Kenya’s Independence Day.

“The criminal law of the Republic of Kenya stipulates that sort of process is high treason.

“It is high treason of the persons involved, and any other person facilitating that process,” he told a news conference.

NAN reports that President Uhuru Kenyatta won a repeat presidential election on Oct. 26 that was boycotted by Odinga, who said it would not be free and fair.

The Supreme Court nullified the first presidential election, in August, over irregularities.

Kenyatta’s speech acknowledged that the extended election season has divided Kenya, a Western ally in a volatile region, and blunted growth in East Africa’s richest economy.

“The elections are now firmly behind us … I will devote my time and energy to build bridges,” Kenyatta told the rapturous crowd in a sports stadium in the capital of Nairobi as he formally began his second, five-year term.

He said Kenyans needed to “free ourselves from the baggage of past grievances, and … keep to the rule of law”.

Supporters of Kenyatta, who won with 98 per cent of the vote after Odinga’s boycott, want him to engage in talks and move on.

Odinga says talk of unity is tantamount to surrender. (NAN)