Cheats, devils, drunks — Kenya’s politicians get ugly ahead of fresh poll
Nairobi — The president calls the chief justice a cheat. A lawmaker denounces the head of the opposition as the devil and says he needs a whipping. The opposition leader accuses the president of making a public speech while drunk. The gloves are off as Kenya’s ruling party and the opposition battle for votes ahead of new elections, tentatively scheduled for October 17 by the country’s supreme court after it voided last month’s presidential results. Last Friday’s historic decision, the first of its kind in Africa, was welcomed by many as a rare sign of independence from Kenya’s judiciary. It means voters will again have to choose between President Uhuru Kenyatta and veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga. But others fear that after a relatively peaceful election campaign, it could open the door to political instability, reviving memories of the violence that followed a disputed 2007 election when more than 1,200 people died. Despite being prone to occasional unrest, Kenya is viewed b...
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