Foreign

Kenyan MP Shot Dead in ‘Targeted’ Attack

By Web News 108

A Kenyan member of parliament has been shot dead in the streets of the capital Nairobi by gunmen on a motorcycle in a suspected assassination.

Police said the attackers had been trailing Charles Ong’ondo Were’s vehicle before one of them got off the motorbike and shot him at close range.

“The nature of this crime appears to be both targeted and predetermined,” police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga said in a statement.

The opposition MP had two months ago complained about threats to his life, local media reported.

After the shooting on late Wednesday, his driver and bodyguard, both unhurt, managed to rush the injured MP to Nairobi Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The attack happened along Ngong Road near a busy roundabout often manned by traffic police officers and well secured with security cameras.

Shortly after the shooting, senior police commanders and detectives visited the scene and investigations are underway, police said.

President William Ruto has ordered police to conduct a thorough investigation into the attack, adding that: “Those responsible must be held to account.”

Fellow legislators who visited the scene on Wednesday night expressed shock and outrage at the killing and called for swift investigations and justice.

Parliament Speaker Moses Wetang’ula described the MP as a “fearless and distinguished” legislator, calling his shooting “devastating”.

The motive for his killing is still not clear but the soft-spoken legislator had publicly claimed some “hired goons” were plotting to assassinate him, attributing the plot to local politics.

In February, he expressed concern over growing violence and unrest during public events in the Kasipul constituency in western Kenya which he represented.

“When you hear I have been killed, Kasipul will not be the same again. But I know they won’t kill me because I have the Bible in my phone and another one under my pillow,” Were said at the time.

On Thursday, homicide detectives visited the scene with Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen saying that “investigations have advanced”.

Were was serving his second term in parliament as a member of the Orange Democratic Movement, led by veteran politician Raila Odinga.

In his statement, Odinga condemned the killing, saying the legislator was “mercilessly and in cold blood, gunned down by an assassin”.

“We have lost a gallant son of the soil!” Odinga added.

Odinga lost to President Ruto in the 2022 election and rejected the results due to alleged irregularities.

The former prime minister has since struck a political deal with Ruto which saw some opposition members join cabinet in what is referred as the “broad-based government” – which Were supported.

BBC/Adebukola Aluko

Foreign

Kenya’s Supreme Court Upholds Ruto’s Victory in Presidential Vote

By Web News 368

Kenya’s Supreme Court on Monday upheld results declaring William Ruto winner of last month’s presidential elections.

Ruto, 55, won with 50.49% of the vote against his rival Raila Odinga’s 48.85%, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) announced in August.

The announcement of the results then descended into chaos in an otherwise peaceful election process when four members of the electoral commission rejected them, declaring the tallying “opaque.”

Odinga, 77, also later disputed the results in the Supreme Court alleging that hackers had accessed the electoral body’s website, deducted his votes and added them to Ruto’s, among other claims of irregularities.

His party, the Azimio La Umoja (Aspiration to Unite) coalition, claimed it had enough evidence in the petition to prove misconduct by the electoral commission after the August 9 election.

However, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected his claims and upheld the results announced by the IEBC.

Chief Justice Martha Koome, delivering the ruling Monday, said the court found no evidence of tampering of results via hacking and that the “IEBC carried out the verification, tallying, and declaration of results in accordance with the provided constitutional law.”

Security was tight ahead of the announcement and Kenya’s security forces are on high alert in areas of the country where violence could break out.

Odinga’s legal team had asked the court to either declare him the winner or order a re-election.

This is Odinga’s fifth time running and his third time challenging his loss in presidential elections through the Supreme Court, having filed a case after the last two elections in 2013 and 2017.

In 2017, the Supreme Court made history when it ordered re-election, which was boycotted by Odinga who again lost to incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta.

CNN/Simeon Ugbodovon

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