Nairobi started to slowly come back to life on Wednesday morning after a wave of uncertainties that dominated the city on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, almost 90 percent of the businesses with the city were closed and the normal traffic jams that the city is accustomed to were nowhere to be seen.
There was a lot of uncertainties following the move by the opposition, the National Super Alliance to swear in their leader, Raila Odinga and the People’s President.
People were skeptical that violence might break out as a result of the confrontation between the police and the NASA supporters.
“On Tuesday, Nairobi was like a ghost city. There were no people on the streets, no shops open and for more than 10 hours, there were no businesses going on in the Central Business District,” said Jackie Mwaniki, a business lady in the city.
The ‘inauguration’ event was generally peaceful and this was attributed to the withdrawal of the police from the venue and which allowed NASA supporters to freely access Uhuru Park.
“I have just confirmed that the police are the ones who normally start the confrontation with an intention to kill and injure the supporters of the opposition (sic). Today, they were nowhere to be seen and peace prevailed,” said one NASA supporter after the oath-taking event.
Raila Odinga took an oath to ‘office’ as the ‘People’s President’ in a move that had been described by the Attorney General Githu Muigai as ‘high treason’ punishable by death.
The opposition believed that their leader had trounced President Uhuru Kenyatta during the August 8th, 2017 general elections and insisted that Uhuru Kenyatta was in office illegally.
The event, however, seemed more of an Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) affair than a NASA one after all the other three principles; Moses Wetangula, Musalia Mudavadi, and Kalonzo Musyoka went MIA (Missing in Action).