Why did Raila Odinga call himself Kenya’s “people’s president” in 2018?

Raila Odinga declared himself the "people’s president" of Kenya on January 30, 2018, as a symbolic act of protest against the results of the 2017 presidential election.12

Following the August 2017 election, in which the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) declared Uhuru Kenyatta the winner, Odinga and his coalition, the National Super Alliance (NASA), alleged that the process had been rigged and manipulated. Although the Supreme Court initially annulled the results due to irregularities, Odinga subsequently withdrew from the October 2017 rerun, citing a lack of necessary electoral reforms.12

Kenyatta was declared the winner of the rerun, but Odinga and NASA refused to recognize the validity of the poll. In January 2018, NASA released what it claimed were the "real" results from the August 2017 election, asserting that Odinga had actually won with enough votes to avoid a runoff. Based on these disputed figures, Odinga held a self-styled inauguration ceremony to be sworn in as the "people’s president," an action the government condemned as an attempt to subvert the legally constituted state.12