Kenyan leader vows to remove opponent if he wins poll

By Andrew Wasike and Magdalene Mukami.

Nairobi

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday threatened to remove opposition leader Raila Odinga should he be elected in the Oct. 17 presidential election.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission set a new date for a presidential poll following a landmark Supreme Court ruling striking down the Aug. 8 election results, citing irregularities, and ordered the holding of new polls within 60 days.

Speaking in Nairobi on Monday during a meeting with the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, Kenyatta said: ”There is no need to be afraid. Even if he [Raila Odinga] is elected as president, we have the numbers, he won’t be able to conduct government affairs and within three months we will remove him from the State House.”

Kenyatta dismissed the threat of parliament boycott from opposition MPs. The opposition contests Kenyatta's legitimacy to summon the country's 12th parliament.

“They said they will boycott the official opening of parliament, and we say: ‘Well done’. We will pass bills in the National Assembly and in the Senate,” he said.

A confident Kenyatta added: ”In the National Assembly, we are only 13 members shy of a two-thirds majority meaning we can even change the constitution without them.”

The opposition has yet to respond to Kenyatta’s remarks.

Kenya's Aug. 8 elections were marred by poll violence that lead to the deaths of at least 20 people, including a six-month-old infant.

The violence started on Aug. 9 when opposition leader Raila Odinga disputed early election results, saying that they had unearthed evidence of mass poll rigging in favor of President Kenyatta's ruling Jubilee Party.