President Uhuru Kenyatta has reiterated his commitment to oversee a smooth handover and peaceful transition of power to the next regime.
In a televised speech Monday evening, Uhuru said in abiding by the pledge he made when he took oath of office, he will uphold the rule of law and respect the decisions of the Supreme Court on the election of William Ruto as President-elect.
“I commit to executing the orders of this court to the latter,” Uhuru said.
He said the hand-over process is already in progress under the Assumption of Office Committee which began its work as early as August 10, 2022.
“It’s my intention to oversee a smooth transition to the next administration and all the necessary orders to facilitate this processes have already been issued,” he added.
The head of State did not congratulate Ruto but commended Kenyans for upholding peace throughout the election process and during the time the outcome was contested in court.
While saying that democracy is a continuous process, Uhuru appealed to the citizens to also respect the institutions that will midwife the transition process saying its their civic duty.
And in an apparent reference to the IEBC, Uhuru urged Kenyans to call the same institutions to question in the execution of their mandate.
“They must test them for coherence but also for correspondence. They must also scrutinise the coherence given by these institutions and to ask themselves whether the truth has been coherent from one election to another, has there been a consistent pattern that is acceptable to our democratic ethos. We must ask ourselves, is it about numbers or is it about process? Uhuru said.
“I do invite you Kenyans to keep vigil and hold all institutions to account,” he added saying that what the institutions say must correspond with the actual state of affairs on the ground.
“This is the only way we will build our democracy”, Uhuru said.
The stage is now set for Ruto’s swearing in on September 13, 2022.
The Constitution requires that the new occupant of the office of President be sworn in on the first Tuesday after seven days of his declaration as President-elect.
