KENYA: DESTINATION UPDATE -Kenya Tourism Federation (KTF)
April 3, 2013 - 2 minutes read
Wild dogs at Aberdare Country Club
The much-awaited Supreme Court ruling was delivered on 30th March 2013, ending two weeks of waiting to know who would be Kenya’s next President. The delay arose from an election petition that was filed, disputing the election results as announced by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). The six Supreme Court judges unanimously upheld the validity of the election of President–elect Uhuru Kenyatta as the 4th President of the Republic of Kenya and William Ruto as his Deputy President-elect.
Despite the historic and very peaceful elections, there had been concerns expressed in some quarters that Kenya could experience problems similar to those of 2007/2008 arising from this petition. The people of Kenyan however once again showed political maturity by leaving the entire matter to the Supreme Court to determine. Except for a few isolated incidents in some areas, the verdict of the Supreme Court was largely accepted by all Kenyans, effectively ending the entire electoral process. Calm immediately returned to the affected areas and continues to prevail.
The President elect and his Deputy will now be sworn in on Tuesday 9th April 2013. The County Governors, Senators and Members of Parliament have already been sworn in.
The business community through the National umbrella body – Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) has already met with the President elect and presented the National Business Agenda, which included the submission from the Tourism Private Sector. The President-elect has previously served as a Chairman of the Kenya Tourist Board, which gives tourism players great expectation that the Government will favourably consider the needs of the sector.
As a tourism sector, we are proud of the conduct of the people of Kenyan who maintained peace against great expectations that the hotly contested race could lead to violence. They have truly demonstrated a maturity that can serve as an example for the rest of Africa.
