Kenya declares opposition pressure group a criminal gang

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Nairobi, Kenya, January 30 (Infosplusgabon) -  Kenya's Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi on Tuesday gazetted the National Resistance Movement, wing of the  opposition NASA coalition, as an organised criminal group.

 

 

 

This came a few hours after NASA leader Raila Odinga was sworn in as the People’s President at public ceremony conducted at Uhuru Park in Nairobi.

 

NASA, the National Super Alliance, is a coalition of opposition parties which boycotted the presidential re-run after the Supreme Court nullified the 8 August 2017 General Elections, in which incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta of Jubilee Party was declared the winner with 54 percent against Odinga's 44 percent of the vote.

 

“In exercise of the powers conferred by section 22 of the Prevention of Organized Crime Act, 2010, the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Interior and Co-ordination of National Government declares the National Resistance Movement (NRM) to be an organized criminal group for the purposes of the Act,” reads the gazette notice.

 

Following an appeal lodged  by NASA, the Supreme Court cancelled the presidential election results, citing massive irregularities, on the part of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

 

NASA boycotted the subsequent October 26 presidential poll re-run, saying that it was not going to be free and fair. Kenyatta won the election with 38 percent, beating his challengers by a wide margin.

 

Out of the 19.6 million registered voters, Kenyatta garnered 7.4 million votes, which  means 12 million Kenyans, the bulk NASA supporters, boycotted the exercise. Kenyatta was sworn in on 28 November 2017.

 

On Tuesday, Odinga was sworn in as a People's President at a ceremony viewed by the government as a self-swearing in exercise. The Attorney General said it was an act of high treason, punishable by death.

 

 

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/MOP/ GABON 2018

 

 

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