Nairobi, Kenya- Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairperson, Wafula Chebukati, has declared Deputy President William Ruto as the country’s new President.
Ruto representing the Kenya Kwanza (Kenya First) Alliance won 7.18 million votes (50.49 percent) against 6.94 million (48.85 percent) for his rival Raila Odinga representing the Azimio La Umoja (Declaration of Unity) Alliance, which includes President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee party, following the national elections held on the 9th of August 2022.
“We are here this evening to witness this momentous occasion as the people of Kenya restate what is in Article One of the Constitution of Kenya that all sovereign power belongs to the people of Kenya.
I want to thank God for getting us to this point, I want to thank God that today we have concluded this election. I know that there were predictions that I wouldn’t get to the ballot, there were predictions that we wouldn’t get here, but because there is a God in heaven we are here, and I want to in a very special way to say, and to confess, that without God we wouldn’t have been here,” said Ruto.
Ruto has pledged to implement a new bottom-up economic model, with a focus on Kenya’s informal workers’ sector.
The 55-year-old previously served as Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Agriculture, and Minister of Higher Education.
Poor Kenyans already reeling from COVID-19 have been hit by global rises in food and fuel prices, and the worst drought in 40 years has devastated the country’s north, leaving 4.1 million people dependent on food aid, while its debt levels have soared.
Now Kenyans must wait to see whether Odinga will again go to Court to contest the results of Tuesday’s peaceful election in a country crucial to regional stability. This is likely to be the final try for the 77-year-old longtime opposition figure, backed this time by his former rival and the outgoing President who fell out with his Peputy, Ruto.
Kenyatta leaves power having laden Kenya with debt for expensive infrastructure projects and without having tackled the endemic corruption that has hollowed out all levels of government.
More than 1 200 people were killed in widespread violence that followed the 2007 election, and more than 100 died after the 2017 polls.
That history adds to scrutiny on an electoral commission wary of repeating mistakes in tallying that caused the Supreme Court to nullify the 2017 result and order a re-run.
However, international observers were generally positive about the election, despite some last-minute printing problems, changes to procedures and inconsistencies in posting results.
