Uhuru to use Mzee Kenyatta’s 1964 Bible for swearing-in

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto will on Tuesday (November 28) be sworn in for a second term in office in a ceremony that will symbolically bring together the past and the present.

In taking his oath of office, President Kenyatta will place his hand on the Bible that was used by his late father Mzee Jomo Kenyatta when he was sworn in as founding President in 1964.

In 2013, Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in as the fourth president of Kenya while holding the Bible his father used to take oath as Prime Minister in 1963.

This time round it is Mr. Ruto who will use the Bible that Mzee Kenyatta used when he was sworn in as prime minister.

It does not end there. While signing their certificates of inauguration, Kenyatta and Ruto will use the table former President Mwai Kibaki used during the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution.

The oath of office, the law says, will take place not earlier than 10am and not later than 2pm and it is to be administered by the Registrar of the Judiciary in the presence of the Chief Justice.

Since Uhuru is the incumbent, there will be no handover of the instruments of power – a sword signifying Commander in Chief of the Defence Forces, and the Constitution.

Over 100,000 people are expected at the 60,000-seater Moi Sports Centre Kasarani to witness Uhuru’s second swearing-in. Gates to the stadium will be opened from 4am.

The government says at least 43 countries have confirmed they will grace the event by either having their presidents, second-in-command, special envoys or ministers in attendance.

Top on the list of the heads of state attending Mr Kenyatta’s final term swearing-in will be Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Others include Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Botswana’s Ian Khama, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, John Pombe Magufuli of Tanzania, Edgar Lungu of Zambia, Ismaïl Omar Guelleh of Djibouti, Namibia’s Hage Geingob, Faure Gnassingbé of Togo, Mohamed Farmajo of Somalia, and Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn of Ethiopia.

Nigeria, Guinea, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, and Yemen will send either the prime minister or the vice presidents.

Senegal, China and Japan will send special envoys while South Africa, Britain, Ukraine, and India will send ministers.

The planning committee also plans to use the 2,500-seater Indoor Arena, and mount giant screens outside the stadium but within the facility’s compound for thousands of Kenyans expected at the ceremony.