President Uhuru Kenyatta’s October 26 polls petition lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi has castigated Nasa leader Raila Odinga for plans to have him sworn-in despite the plan by to postpone the plan.
Mr Abdullahi who took to his Twitter account hours after the statement that was issued by Nasa co-principal Musalia Mudavadi, tasked Mr Odinga to tell his supporters his would-be office and elaborate on when his term of office start and end just after his inauguration as ‘People’s President.’
“What does the Law pursuant to which you were to be sworn says about this? When does your term of office start and end? Where will you be based?” Mr Abdullahi posed, demanding that Mr Odinga should tell his supporters which law he broke by failing to be sworn in, in an event which would have happened on Tuesday 12.
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Dozens of questions remain un-answered by the National Super Alliance despite the pressure which has pushed Mr Odinga to ideally postpone his swearing-in fete, instead of cancelling it altogether.
The Constitution provides in Article 141 that the president-elect should be sworn in by the chief registrar of the Judiciary in the presence of the chief justice, or in his absence, the deputy chief justice. It is, however, not clear who will perform this duty in the case of Nasa.
Under the Assumption of the Office of President Act, the swearing-in should take place between 10am and 2pm Kenyan time in Nairobi on a date and at a place to be designated by the committee that oversees the process and published in the Kenya Gazette. Nasa failed to provide such details.
It is expected that after the swearing-in of the Head of State, on should proceed to State House in Nairobi, as was the case when President Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in on April 9, 2013. He proceeded to State House, Nairobi, the official seat of power, and after the State luncheon, he escorted his predecessor, Mwai Kibaki, out of the building in a symbolic handover.
It is also not clear which powers Mr Odinga will have upon assuming ‘office’ because swearing-in in itself, if it were to happen, does not come with the instruments of power.