Reaction on social media

Kenyans on social media are reacting to a political situation that has 'blessed' the country with two presidents.

The constitutionally recognised president is Uhuru Kenyatta who took office in November 2017 after winning a presidential poll rerun ordered by the court in September 2017.

But on Tuesday, Uhuru's main rival and former prime minister, Raila Amolo Odinga also took a presidential oath of office in the capital Nairobi amid a government ban.

So where is the presidential power of Odinga emanating from? Barely an hour after taking his oath, he has changed his titles on his verified social media pages.

His Twitter bio reads: “This is the official account of His Excellency Raila Amolo Odinga, President of the Republic of Kenya.” On Facebook: “Welcome to the official page of His Excellency Raila Amolo Odinga, President of the Republic of Kenya.”

Kenyans are reacting to it partly with political lenses, others are seeing the fun side of it while for some, it is a sign of things to come.

Tweeted @teddyeugene, I was alive when Kenya had two presidents. #NASAOathDay, #RailaSwearingIn.

Another tweet read 'Raila Odinga's social media accounts and Wikipedia pages updated to “President of the Republic of Kenya”.'

'Kenya is truly a record breaker, first they nullified election results and now they have two presidents, lol, tweeted @ElinasPeter while @JFJustice asked, 'Can we ask @Twitter to at least settle who gets to call themselves the President of #Kenya on their platform?'

Another Twitter user said, 'The shortest swearing in in history. Took about four minutes to swear in and left the venue. He was sworn as the People's President not the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of Kenya. See the joke? Raila is not interested in taking power from Uhuru Kenyatta.'

Something else that #NASAOathDay demonstrated: It is GoK that brings the violence. When cops don't interfere, events tend to go off peacefully. How many lives would've been spared if that had happened on @RailaOdinga's return from the US or during the demos against the elections?

The Gambia landed itself in a similar situation a little over a year ago when Adama Barrow who beat long serving Yahya Jammeh took an initial oath of office in Dakar at a time Jammeh was still holding on to power in Banjul.

Google ended up “officially” giving both Barrow and Jammeh the title of president until Jammeh agreed to fly into exile before Barrow got the singular mention of President of the Gambia.