“We will soon take steps to lead a transparent, democratic, and “accountable” government, pledged William Ruto, elected after one of the tightest elections since independence in 1963 .
He was speaking in Nairobi after a meeting with members of his coalition, Kenya Kwanza.
For now, only parliamentary committees can ask ministers to explain themselves, through a process that some consider opaque.
“The expectations of Kenyans are enormous and therefore we do not have the luxury of wasting time”, he continued, two days after his victory announced at 50.49% of the vote against 48.85% for Raila Odinga, an opposition figure supported by the outgoing president, who rejected these results on Tuesday.
Kenyans have sent ‘a very clear message to leaders that they want us to move the country forward’, hit by a pandemic-related spike in food and fuel prices amplified by war, Ruto says in Ukraine.
William Ruto also promised on Wednesday to ensure that civil servants serve “all Kenyans equally”, regardless of their “tribe” or their “political affiliations”.
“We will make sure that no part of Kenya will be left behind, (…) that no community in Kenya will be left behind. We will move forward together, as a nation because Kenyans are already in the process of to tell us that we need change,” he continued.
In Kenya, which officially has 46 ethnic groups and where community affiliation is traditionally important on the political scale, “there will be no room for exclusion”, he insisted.
In this country, which is an island of democratic stability in the East African region, the results of the elections have all been contested since 2002, in court or in the streets.
In 2017, dozens of people died during demonstrations repressed by the police. Ten years earlier, the post-election dispute had caused inter-ethnic clashes and the death of more than 1,100 people.
Five-time unsuccessful presidential candidate Raila Odinga has previously challenged the results in court in 2013 and 2017. On Tuesday he said he would pursue “all legal options” available.
Like Camp Odinga, Camp Ruto claims to have won the majority of seats in Parliament. The results so far give the two coalitions neck and neck, but the vote has notably been postponed in four constituencies.
