At least twenty Heads of State and Government are expected to attended the swearing in of president-elect William Ruto and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua on Tuesday next week.
Although Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibichio, previously fiery and unapologetic critic of the Kenya Kwanza brigade and its leader, now president-elect, that has now taken over the trappings of power said Kenyans just walk in to Kasarani Stadium and will not require any invitation.
However, for the VIP, the invitations will be capped at 2,500 due to limitations of the number of people and capacity the dais can accommodate.
“We will have all the protocols associated with visiting Heads of States ready by Foreign Affairs and KDF and all people concerned with the arrival of dignitaries.” Kibicho said.
He spoke earlier today shortly after he led the Assumption of Office Committee for an inspection tour at the complex to assess the level of preparedness ahead of the ceremony.
Kibicho affirmed that the venue will be ready by tomorrow evening.
“Because of controls we will have limited invitations. You can see the dais can only accommodate a certain number of people. We will have limited invitation of 2,500 VIPs at the main dais.” He added.
The program is scheduled to start at 7 am.
However, the gates will be open to members of the public Kenyans at dawn and are expected to be seated by 10.00 am.
The ceremony will then begin at 10:30 am and the President-elect sworn into office between 10 am and 2 pm.
Already, the National Police Service (NPS) headed by Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutymbai has already prepared the day’s operational order and adequately briefed senior commanders on security arrangement including traffic flow and security checks at the venue.
At least 10,000 police officers have been deployed to secure the event.
“We are satisfied, we have no doubt that we will have a very colourful ceremony on Tuesday and we have given it all it takes to make our country proud.” Kibicho added.
Also, TV screens will also be screens mounted at select locations to make room for attendees who will not make it to the stadium to follow the event live.