The Kisumu County Government has protested the travel advisory issued by the US Embassy to its citizens over the likelihood of the violence in the lakeside city after the Supreme Court ruling slated for Monday.

John Oywa, who is in charge of the public information and communication in the county, said in a statement Friday that Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o’s administration does not expect any form of violence whatever the outcome of the Supreme Court on the August 9 Presidential Elections results.

“As much as we acknowledge the Country’s concern on the safety of its citizens, we take exceptional concern at the tone of the memo which singles out Kisumu and suggests that the City could witness violence after the 5th September Supreme court ruling on the Presidential election petition,” Oywa said on the security alert issued Thursday.

He reiterated that Kisumu is a “multiracial and multi-ethnic peaceful community that cares deeply for each other’s welfare, including our American sisters and brothers.”

Oywa called on the residents to remain calm regardless of the outcome of the Supreme Court ruling.

“The County leadership urge the people of Kisumu, especially the youth, to remain peaceful as has been the case in the past few years,” he said.

In its advisory, the US Government announced it had imposed movement restrictions on its personnel in Kisumu as a precautionary measure, arguing that Kenya has occasionally experienced post-election violence during election cycles.

“Election-related demonstrations and rallies regularly take place after elections, at times blocking key intersections and causing traffic jams,” the advisory read in part.

The Embassy warned that the protests could turn violent at times, necessitating police intervention, and urged its citizens to remain vigilant as Kenyans await the final ruling from the country’s apex court. 

As part of the safety precautions, the US Embassy advised its citizens to avoid crowds, review their personal security plans and beware of their surroundings.

On August 3, the Embassy issued a similar travel advisory urging American citizens to avoid traveling to Kisumu before the now concluded General Election.

While a section of Kenyans and leaders have protested the earlier travel advisory, the US Ambassador to Kenya, Meg Whitman, said the advisory was in the best interest of the US and its investments.

“What we do is to look into the safety and security of Embassy personnel as well as US citizens in any country where the US operates,” Whiteman said Tuesday when she made her first tour outside Nairobi to visit US Embassy staff heading critical US programs and investments in the lakeside city of Kisumu. By Bruhan Makong, Capital News

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) through its lawyer George Murugu has said that it ‘hurriedly’ announced the Presidential results following concerns over the safety of its staff.

He said that the commission made the decision not to announce the remaining 27 constituencies despite being tallied and verified.

He said the results were ready for an announcement by Professor Abdi Guliye but due to the looming threat, they chose to announce the presidential results alone. 

Murugu added that the constant harassment that the commission’s staff had faced which included arrest and intimidation is what led to the decision.

“He [Chebukati] made considerations concerning the security of his staff who are that particular point in time were suffering arrest, abductions and injuries to officials including commissioners,” he said.

Murugu is representing the commission's chairperson Wafula Chebukati in the petition said that the results.

As to why IEBC rushed to announce the results yet they had one more day, he said that the mandate to tally and verify the results by the commission had been carried out and given the security concerns and that they had announced to Kenyans that the presidential results would be released on that day.

Responding to a question posed by Justice Njoki Ndung’u on the meaning of the term commission, Murugu said that it depends on the context in which it is used. 

He said that some of the roles of the commissioners are oversight, strategy and policy and that the role of the secretariat is to deal with administrative issues of day-to-day operations of IEBC and execution of policies.

He defended Chebukati, saying that he was not an all-powerful figure and that if he was to be incapacitated and not in a position to announce the presidential results, the commission is involved in the whole process of verification of results which means he has no role to act outside his mandate.

He said that the four commissioners who said that they could not take ownership of the presidential results and that they had been given other roles, were the same ones who were announcing some of the results from different constituencies. By Fred Kagonye , The Standard