Raila makes low-key return from Zanzibar

NASA leader Raila Odinga quietly returned to the county on Wednesday as preparations for President Uhuru Kenyatta’s swearing-in ceremony went a notch higher.

As the Kenya Defence Forces heightened rehearsals at the Kasarani Stadium, the Assumption of the President Committee chairman Joseph Kinyua, who is also the State House Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service, gazzetted Tuesday, November 2017, as the date of the ceremony.

Interior Acting Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i similar gazzetted the day as a public holiday.

NASA has threatened to swear-in Raila on the same day, claiming he was the winner of the original election held on August 8, whose results were nullified by the Supreme Court on account of illegalities and irregularities committed during the transimission of results after the NASA leader lodged a petition.

“We have a range of options in our hands and swearing in Hon. Raila is one of our options of the table. It has been considered robustly and I can tell you that when the right time comes, the country will be informed,” NASA chief executive Norman Magaya said earlier in the week.

Thursday, Government spokesman Eric Kiraithe, in jest, said NASA is free to proceed with their plans as long as its supporters do not interfere with other people’s businesses.

“They can go ahead and swear in Raila, if they do it without interfering with people, the government won’t be concerned,” he said during his weekly media briefing at the Kenyatta International Covention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi.

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“Declaring yourself a people’s president does not even make you a member of the county assembly, it does not make you anything. It only makes you and your followers happy,” said Kiraithe.

“You can sit anywhere with your friends and declare yourself the Pope as long as you’re not using public resources,” he said.

Raila flew to Zanzibar on Sunday night following what his advisor Salim Lone said was the unrest that ensued after his return from a tour of the United States last Friday.