NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in for a second term on Tuesday, shortly before riot police teargassed the convoy of opposition leader Raila Odinga, who promised supporters he would be sworn in himself on Dec. 12.
“The elections are now firmly behind us ... I will devote my time and energy to build bridges,” he told a rapturous crowd of around 60,000 supporters as he was sworn in for a second, five-year term in a sports stadium in the capital Nairobi.
But, he warned, Kenyans needed to “free ourselves from the baggage of past grievances, and ... keep to the rule of law”.
Last year, Kenyatta angered many Kenyans by saying he wanted to tackle corruption but his “hands are tied”. His government has also promised to improve police accountability, but an independent watchdog has managed to convict only two officers of murder despite thousands of brutality complaints.
Television stations KTN and NTV reported that a 7-year-old boy was hit by a stray bullet while playing on the balcony of a house near the site of a planned opposition prayer meeting.
“When I came home, I did not know it was my child who had been killed. Police were passing by shooting,” Peter Mutuku, the boy’s father, was quoted saying on NTV.
Supporters of Kenyatta - who won the October poll with 98 percent of the vote after Odinga’s boycott - want the opposition to engage in talks and move on.
“I’m sure Uhuru will be able to bring people together and unite them so we can all work for the country,” said Eunice Jerobon, a trader who traveled overnight from the Rift Valley town of Kapsabet for the inauguration.
Political arguments often have ethnic undercurrents, with Odinga’s supporters pointing out that three of the country’s four presidents have come from one ethnic group, the Kikuyu, although the country has 44 recognized groups.
Riot police sealed off the scene of the rally in the morning, and fired teargas at residents, trying to prevent a crowd from gathering, as a helicopter hovered overhead. Roads were blocked by burning tyres, rocks and uprooted billboards.
In his speech, Kenyatta promised to raise living standards by increasing jobs, home ownership, electricity connections and health insurance coverage.
He also said all Africans would now get visas on arrival in Kenya, and members of the East African community could own property, work and live in Kenya, adding “to underscore Kenya’s commitment to pan Africanism, this shall not be done on the basis of reciprocity”.