Kenyan Cardinal John Njue has appealed to politicians to use dialogue to calm the country, as political temperatures related to fresh Presidential elections reached a peak this week.
Since the Supreme Court’s nullification of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s win on 1 September, opinion in the East African nation has split along ethnic lines.
Mr Kenyatta accused the judiciary of orchestrating a “coup” against his government, but accepted the ruling. Opposition leader Raila Odinga of the National Super Alliance (NASA), who petitioned the court claiming the electoral commission’s computer system had been hacked to give Kenyatta the win, praised the ruling.
Citing illegalities and irregularities, the court ruled that fresh elections be held in 60 days. The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has moved the next election date to 26 October after initially settling for 17 October.
However, the opposition is now threatening a boycott.
With the hardening positions, Cardinal Njue, Archbishop of Nairobi, urged the politicians to engage in talks and restrain their supporters ahead of the vote. He warned the hardline stances taken by the politicians would further divide the country, which went through a deadly post-election period between December 2007 and February 2008.
PICTURE: Demonstrators from a civil society group hold a banner as they call for the prosecution of IEBC Commissioners and officials over the August Kenyan presidential elections in Nairobi, Kenya, 13 September
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