There is a problem with the Judiciary - Uhuru Kenyatta

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Saturday the country has "a problem" with its judiciary that must be fixed.

He was speaking a day after the Supreme Court annulled his election win last month and ordered a new poll within 60 days.

"We shall revisit this thing. We clearly have a problem," he said, referring to the judiciary.

"Who even elected you? Were you? We have a problem and we must fix it," he said, speaking on live television at the State House in Nairobi after he met with governors and other elected officials from his Jubilee party.

Kenyatta, however, also repeated his message from Friday that he would respect the court's ruling.

The decision to annul the election was an unprecedented move in Africa where governments often hold sway over judges - and the first time on the continent that a court ruled against the electoral victory of an incumbent.

Analysts viewed the president's latest comments on the judiciary as a worrisome development.

"It's extremely unfortunate that Kenyatta seems to be issuing veiled threats at the judiciary," said Murithi Mutiga, a Nairobi-based senior Africa analyst at the International Crisis Group.

"This was a tremendous moment for Kenyan democracy, where the court upheld the rule of law. Politicians should be careful not to incite the public against the judiciary."

The president's latest comments mark the second time since Friday's ruling that he has spoken critically about the judiciary in public. On Friday during an impromptu rally in Nairobi, he accused the court of ignoring the will of the people and dismissed the chief justice's colleagues as "wakora", or crooks.

Kenyan parliamentarian Kimani Ichungwa accused the opposition of intimidating the Supreme Court.

"Problems do exist in our judiciary. I do believe there is a serious cartel within the judiciary - a cartel controlled by other corruption cartels funding our competitors. We must get rid of these cartels in the judiciary," Ichungwa told Al Jazeera.  

"We have a judiciary that is still not very independent… They have yet to get independence from corruption cartels that run this country, that have tried to influence affairs of this country." 

The president's public appearances since the ruling suggest he intends to campaign rigorously ahead of the re-run of the August 8 poll.

He said via Twitter on Saturday: "For now let us meet at the ballot."

Observers have warned the new election could bring even more tension to a country where politics is largely divided along tribal lines.    

"Kenya just had a difficult and controversial election, and this decision pushes it right back into another electoral campaign," said analyst Nic Cheeseman of the University of Birmingham.    

"The outcome of the next election may be controversial again".  

Credit: aljazeera.com