Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga has been sworn in as an alternative president on Tuesday. The ceremony took place in front of thousands of supporters, despite warnings from authorities that it was treason.
“I Raila Amolo Odinga, in full realisation of the high calling, assume the office of the People’s President of the Republic of Kenya,” he said in the brief and chaotic ceremony surrounded by a sea of people in Nairobi.
Odinga’s supporters waited for up to six hours in the blazing sun, before he arrived without his deputy Kalonzo Musyoka who had also been scheduled to be sworn in.
The crowd went wild as Odinga raised the Bible aloft upon taking the unofficial oath of office, its wording different to that sworn by Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta in November.
“We have accomplished our promise to Kenyans,” said Odinga in a brief speech before departing, the packed venue emptying out in minutes.
Click here for a video:
