Atheists ask president-elect Ruto to promote secularism
Atheist in Kenya now want president-elect William Ruto to consider promoting secularism in his administration.
In a statement shared to newsrooms, the president of Atheist in Kenya Society, Harrison Mumia, said that both believers and atheists have important roles to play in building a democratic, pluralistic and inclusive Kenyan society.
“The Atheists in Kenya Society would like to congratulate H.E President-Elect William Samoei Ruto for being duly elected as President of Kenya. We would also like to thank our Supreme Court judges for safeguarding the will of the Kenyan people. The willingness of the judiciary to protect our constitution in the face of intense political pressure is a source of hope and inspiration,” Mr Mumia said.
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“It is our hope that President William Ruto will promote secularism and freedom of religion as specified under Articles 8 and 32 of our Constitution during his term. Atheists should never face discrimination. We will vehemently oppose any attempt to privilege religious organizations and religious beliefs in Kenya,” he said.
Dr Ruto is expected to be sworn in on Tuesday next week as the fifth president of Kenya after the Supreme Court upheld his election victory.
On Monday, seven-judge bench, led by Chief Justice Martha Koome, unanimously dismissed the petitions. The CJ said the petitioners failed to table sufficient evidence to quash Dr Ruto’s win.
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The CJ ruled that Dr Ruto rightly gained 50 plus one per cent of the total votes as per the Constitution, hence the petition challenging his numbers was dismissed.
She also said that the judges were not persuaded that the technology employed failed the test as claimed by the petitioners who had alleged that Kiems kit failed in 235 polling stations and that 86,889 voters were granted the right to vote manually and the requisite forms 32A were successfully filled.
She also said that as to whether there was interference with the uploading and transmission of forms 34A from the polling stations to the IEBC public portal, the court found that there were no significant differences found between forms uploaded on the portal and forms delivered to Bomas of Kenya, which was the national tallying center of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
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