20 Heads of State, 2,500 VIPs: Inside preparations for President-elect William Ruto’s swearing-in

At least 20 Heads of State and government across Africa are expected to attend President-elect William Ruto's swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday at the Kasarani stadium.

Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho, a member of the Assumption of Office of the President Committee, confirmed on Saturday that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is already making protocol arrangements to handle the guests.

Kibicho said some 2,500 VIPs are also expected to grace the occasion, as he expressed satisfaction at the strides made by the men and women in uniform to steer the ceremony.

The function’s guard of honor is expected to be mounted by the 21st battalion of the Kenya Rifles, outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta’s last guard of honour.

“The preparations in as far as the infrastructure is concerned is well on time and we will be able to deliver by latest tomorrow (Sunday) 6pm,” said Kibicho.

The PS stated that Kenyans seeking to attend President-elect William Ruto’s swearing-in ceremony are welcome to do so and should be at the Kasarani stadium early. The gates of the 60,000 capacity stadium will be open to the public from 4am.

“We’re expecting that we shall host here 60,000 Kenyans and 2,500 VIPs and VVIPs at dais,” he said.

The VIP podium set aside for invited guests and visiting Heads of State numbering 20 from across Africa is already set.

With the soaring number of VIPs, Kibicho stated that car pooling arrangements have been made with Kenyan VIPs to minimise traffic and a possible parking crisis.

“A lot of our VIPs have been gracious enough to agree that we do common pooling, and therefore we shall be announcing designated areas where these VIPs will be picked so that we use pooling services to make traffic a little lighter,” he noted.

The National Police Service (NPS) has also been directed to sufficiently deploy boots to secure the area.

Kibicho said both uniformed and non-uniformed officers will take part in ensuring Tuesday starts and ends without incident.

“We will be having in the vicinity of 10,000 police officers around here ensuring that there is order and that everyone is safe,” stated the PS.

Merchandise and food vendors will also be allowed to do business in designated areas of the stadium.

“Between gate 11 and 12, we shall allow the small traders to come and do their businesses, because 60,000 people here require certain services…we have a committee that has been set up to vet so that we don’t have inappropriate hawking,” added Kibicho.

President Kenyatta will on Tuesday hand over the instruments of power to President-elect Ruto who will become the 5th president and Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces.

It is the third such a ceremony to be held in the country.