Kenya's Raila Odinga 'inaugurates' himself as president

Kenya's main competition chief, raila odinga, has declared himself the "humans's president" at a controversial "swearing-in" rite within the capital.

Thousands of his supporters attended the occasion, regardless of a government caution that it amounted to treason.

The government shut down tv stations to save you live coverage of the event.

President uhuru kenyatta was sworn in for a 2d term final november. He received an election re-run in october, but mr odinga boycotted it.

Elections were first held in august but the courts ordered a re-run, announcing mr kenyatta's victory turned into marred through irregularities.

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Protecting a bible in his proper hand at a park in nairobi, mr odinga declared that he turned into answering to a "excessive[er] calling to anticipate the workplace of the people's president of the republic of kenya".

Human beings had had sufficient of election rigging and the occasion became a step towards establishing a right democracy in the east african state, mr odinga informed a cheering crowd.

Talking earlier to kenyan broadcaster ktn, mr odinga stated his "swearing-in" became supposed to "show the world that what we're doing is legal, constitutional and now not some thing you may remotely describe as a coup".

What did he reap?
It became a public relations stunt that ended in unhappiness for many opposition supporters, says the bbc's alastair leithead in nairobi.

Mr odinga grew to become up for simply 20 mins. He signed a assertion, swore an oath and left the degree, leaving his supporters wondering why it turned into this sort of low-key affair, he adds.

His deputy, kalonzo musyoka, turned into now not at the event, and mr odinga said mr musyoka would be "sworn-in" at a later date.

However, his absence counseled there were divisions in mr odinga's national terrific alliance, our correspondent says.

What do odinga supporters say?One in all them, larry oyugi, stated there has been not anything illegal about tuesday's event: "we've warned the police sufficient and we also are going as in step with the constitution. The charter of kenya, article one, permits all kenyans to exercising their strength immediately.

"this is why we are right here to workout our powers by means of amassing here and also article 37 lets in peaceful assembly. We're citizens of this united states, we're allowed to peacefully assemble here and elect our president as consistent with the constitution."

Police allowed the occasion to take region, regardless of caution earlier that they could save you it from going ahead.

How did the tv ban take keep?3 privately owned television stations - ntv, ktn and citizen television - went off air from around 09:10 (06:10 gmt), bbc monitoring reviews.

Citizen television advised the bbc the government had compelled them off the air over plans to cowl the gathering.

It live streamed the event on its website, and on youtube and facebook.

Ktn viewers watched their screens fade to black as the news presenter read a declaration confirming that the countrywide communications authority changed into switching off transmission.

Switching off the broadcasting alerts of media organisations is uncommon in kenya, the bbc's anne soy reviews from nairobi.

Threats were made in the beyond and some media groups were raided however none have had their signal intentionally disrupted.

Kenyan newshounds have denounced the move as outrageous and in a assertion referred to as for "appreciate of the charter" and an cease to the "unprecedented intimidation of reporters".

There was anxiety in kenya on tuesday as a few colleges closed within the capital due to the occasion, and people did now not know what to expect, our correspondent says.

Why is the election end result disputed?Mr kenyatta was formally re-elected with 98% of the vote on 26 october but simply below 39% of electorate became out. He became inaugurated in november.

His victory isn't always acknowledged with the aid of mr odinga, who argues he became elected by a small segment of the usa.

Mr kenyatta additionally won the original election on 8 august but that end result become annulled by means of the superb court, which defined it as "neither obvious nor verifiable".

Whilst the repeat vote became referred to as, mr odinga urged his supporters to shun it because he said no reforms were made to the electoral fee.

Correspondents say the election dispute has left kenya deeply divided. Approximately 50 humans are suggested to were killed in violence because the august ballot .

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