NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya braced for further protests Friday as the Supreme Court was expected to rule on the opposition’s challenge to last month’s presidential election, with police deployed to sensitive areas of the capital, Nairobi.

Opposition candidate Raila Odinga claims that the electronic voting results were hacked into and manipulated in favor of President Uhuru Kenyatta, who won a second term with 54 percent of the vote. Odinga also went to court to challenge Kenyatta’s previous election win in 2013 but failed.

Security was tight around the courthouse with armed police and barricaded streets. Another round of protests was expected if the court upholds Kenyatta’s victory. Human rights groups have said police killed at least 24 people in unrest that followed the Aug. 8 vote.

“This day is the D-day. We are going to know who is the president and we are very confident that the Supreme Court is going to give us our president,” said one Nairobi resident, Felix Achieng.

Local newspaper headlines declared Friday a “Date With Destiny.” Many shops in the capital remained closed.

Kenya’s electoral commission has said there was a hacking attempt but it failed. International election observers have said they saw no interference with the vote.

Unease around the election rose when the official who oversaw the electronic voting system was found tortured and killed days before the vote. But the unrest following last month’s election was far calmer than the post-election violence a decade ago that left more than 1,000 people dead.

“We should be in peace and be calm for the judgment and we should love one another and should not cause confrontations and commotion inside the town,” Nairobi resident Nicholas Anthony said.</s>A student embraces her parent following a fire which burnt down one dormitory of Moi Girls school in Nairobi, Kenya September 2, 2017. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Eight Kenyan teenage schoolgirls died and 10 more were hospitalized after a fire engulfed their boarding school dormitory in Nairobi early on Saturday morning, a government official said.

The cause of the fire was not known, and the government ordered Moi Girls School closed for two weeks while it investigated, education minister Fred Matiangi told reporters when he visited the school.

“A fire broke out at the school at 2:00am in the morning in one of the dormitories,” said Matiangi. He said the school, which has nearly 1,200 students, is “one of our top schools in the country and... (one) that we are very proud of.”

A statement from his office on Saturday evening said the death toll had risen from seven to eight.

A shaken 16-year-old schoolgirl, Daniella Maina, told Reuters: “We were sleeping and a girl woke us up and said that our hostel was burning. We were helped to safety by some teachers.”

Fires have in the past claimed the lives of dozens of Kenyan boarding school students. In 2001, 58 schoolboys were killed in a dormitory fire at Kyanguli Secondary School outside Nairobi. In 2012, eight students were killed at a school in Homa Bay County in western Kenya.

Lax safety standards and poor emergency procedures have been blamed for some past fires at schools and for other tragedies such as the collapse of a residential building in Nairobi in May that killed nearly 50 people.

The Kenyan police did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Saturday morning.</s>NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya braced for further protests Friday as the Supreme Court was expected to rule on the opposition's challenge to last month's presidential election, with police deployed to sensitive areas of the capital, Nairobi.

Opposition candidate Raila Odinga claims that the electronic voting results were hacked into and manipulated in of President Uhuru Kenyatta, who won a second term with 54 of the vote. Odinga also went to court to challenge Kenyatta's previous election win in 2013 but failed.

Security was tight around the courthouse with armed police and barricaded streets. Another round of protests was expected if the court upholds Kenyatta's victory. Human rights groups have said police killed at least 24 people in unrest that followed the Aug. 8 vote.

"This day is the D-day. We are going to know who is the president and we are very confident that the Supreme Court is going to give us our president," said one Nairobi resident, Felix Achieng.

Kenya's electoral commission has said there was a hacking attempt but it failed. International election observers have said they saw no interference with the vote.

Unease around the election rose when the official who oversaw the electronic voting system was found tortured and killed days before the vote. But the unrest following last month's election was far calmer than the post-election violence a decade ago that left more than 1,000 people dead.

"We should be in peace and be calm for the judgment and we should love one another and should not cause confrontations and commotion inside the town," Nairobi resident Nicholas Anthony said.</s>Nairobi - A decision by Kenya's Supreme Court to annul the results of last month's presidential election was hailed Friday by analysts as "historic" and "an example for the rest of the world".

However, they warned that the 60 days within which a new election must be held will bring tension and anxiety, and the restraint of leaders and credibility of the new election will be paramount.

On Friday, Kenya's Supreme Court rendered a shock ruling cancelling the results of the August 8 election over widespread irregularities.

Chief Justice David Maraga said a majority decision by the panel of seven judges, with two dissenting, found that President Uhuru Kenyatta "was not validly elected", rendering the result "invalid, null and void".

Veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga and his National Super Alliance (NASA) had taken the case to court, claiming the system transmitting votes had been hacked, and that forms from polling stations that were meant to back up the electronic results were not being uploaded.

"It is a historic decision, the first of its kind in Africa," Murithi Mutiga, a Nairobi-based senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, said.

Mutiga said the ruling "means Kenya, one of the most open societies in Africa, is gradually maturing as a democracy".

The "opposition can now go to court and expect to be served with justice", he added.

According to Nic Cheeseman, a professor in African politics at the University of Birmingham, many observers expected a "conservative" ruling - similar to the decision in 2013 where Odinga took his grievances to court but eventually lost.

In a statement, Justus Nyang'aya, country director for Amnesty International Kenya, said the decision "demonstrates the independence of Kenya's judiciary and sets an example for the rest of the world".

But while the ruling "upholds the constitution" adopted in 2010, "it will put a lot of question marks on the international observers, who have massively said the election day went well," an African diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.

In the majority decision, Maraga said the election commission (IEBC) had been responsible for "irregularities and illegalities" which "affected the integrity of the election".

But until the court's full ruling is released, it is unclear what the judgement is based on.

"They've made one of the most important decisions in Kenyan history," Cheeseman said, "and it's going to be 21 days before we find out why".

Analysts bemoaned the wait, adding that the court's final statement will likely influence the next vote and the people who will be in charge of carrying it out.

"The reason why this election was not well run was because the IEBC had so little time to run it," Cheeseman said, noting that new election commissioners were named a mere seven months before the August poll.

"And so now you have less time".

For his part, the anonymous African diplomat said Kenya could see a rush of other dissatisfied candidates who lost out in governor, senator or MP races turn to the court with election grievances following the ruling.

"A lot of people will be nervous," Cheeseman said. "Kenya just had a difficult and controversial election, and this decision pushes it right back into another electoral campaign, which will start almost immediately".

"The outcome of the next election may be controversial again".

This is why "the reaction of the political leaders will be extremely critical in the next two months," Mutiga said.

"There will be anxiety, there will be uncertainty, but political leaders need to show some maturity and make sure that they don't ruin what in my view is a remarkably important step for Kenya's democracy".

Mutiga added however that "restraint will be difficult in this very polarised environment" - which was also stark before, during and after the August vote due to deep ethnic, economic and political divisions in Kenya.

On Friday, Amnesty International urged "all parties to comply with the judgement," calling "on the police to observe restraint in their handling of any celebrations or protests" that may follow.

The August 11 declaration of Kenyatta's victory with 54.27% of the vote - with not all the tallying forms in - sparked two days of protests in the slums of Nairobi and Kisumu, traditional opposition strongholds.

At least 21 people, including a baby and a nine-year-old girl, were killed, mostly by police, according to an AFP tally.</s>Nairobi (AFP) - A decision by Kenya's Supreme Court to annul the results of last month's presidential election was hailed Friday by analysts as "historic" and "an example for the rest of the world".

However, they warned that the 60 days within which a new election must be held will bring tension and anxiety, and the restraint of leaders and credibility of the new election will be paramount.

On Friday, Kenya's Supreme Court rendered a shock ruling cancelling the results of the August 8 election over widespread irregularities.

Chief Justice David Maraga said a majority decision by the panel of seven judges, with two dissenting, found that President Uhuru Kenyatta "was not validly elected", rendering the result "invalid, null and void".

Veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga and his National Super Alliance (NASA) had taken the case to court, claiming the system transmitting votes had been hacked, and that forms from polling stations that were meant to back up the electronic results were not being uploaded.

"It is a historic decision, the first of its kind in Africa," Murithi Mutiga, a Nairobi-based senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, said.

Mutiga said the ruling "means Kenya, one of the most open societies in Africa, is gradually maturing as a democracy".

The "opposition can now go to court and expect to be served with justice", he added.

According to Nic Cheeseman, a professor in African politics at the University of Birmingham, many observers expected a "conservative" ruling -- similar to the decision in 2013 where Odinga took his grievances to court but eventually lost.

In a statement, Justus Nyang'aya, country director for Amnesty International Kenya, said the decision "demonstrates the independence of Kenya's judiciary and sets an example for the rest of the world".

But while the ruling "upholds the constitution" adopted in 2010, "it will put a lot of question marks on the international observers, who have massively said the election day went well," an African diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.

In the majority decision, Maraga said the election commission (IEBC) had been responsible for "irregularities and illegalities" which "affected the integrity of the election".

But until the court's full ruling is released, it is unclear what the judgement is based on.

"They've made one of the most important decisions in Kenyan history," Cheeseman said, "and it's going to be 21 days before we find out why".

Analysts bemoaned the wait, adding that the court's final statement will likely influence the next vote and the people who will be in charge of carrying it out.

"The reason why this election was not well run was because the IEBC had so little time to run it," Cheeseman said, noting that new election commissioners were named a mere seven months before the August poll.

"And so now you have less time".

For his part, the anonymous African diplomat said Kenya could see a rush of other dissatisfied candidates who lost out in governor, senator or MP races turn to the court with election grievances following the ruling.

"A lot of people will be nervous," Cheeseman said. "Kenya just had a difficult and controversial election, and this decision pushes it right back into another electoral campaign, which will start almost immediately".

"The outcome of the next election may be controversial again".

This is why "the reaction of the political leaders will be extremely critical in the next two months," Mutiga said.

"There will be anxiety, there will be uncertainty, but political leaders need to show some maturity and make sure that they don't ruin what in my view is a remarkably important step for Kenya's democracy".

Mutiga added however that "restraint will be difficult in this very polarised environment" -- which was also stark before, during and after the August vote due to deep ethnic, economic and political divisions in Kenya.

On Friday, Amnesty International urged "all parties to comply with the judgement," calling "on the police to observe restraint in their handling of any celebrations or protests" that may follow.

The August 11 declaration of Kenyatta's victory with 54.27 percent of the vote -- with not all the tallying forms in -- sparked two days of protests in the slums of Nairobi and Kisumu, traditional opposition strongholds.

At least 21 people, including a baby and a nine-year-old girl, were killed, mostly by police, according to an AFP tally.</s>NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya braced for further protests Friday as the Supreme Court was expected to rule on the opposition’s challenge to last month’s presidential election, with police deployed to sensitive areas of the capital, Nairobi.

Opposition candidate Raila Odinga claims that the electronic voting results were hacked into and manipulated in favor of President Uhuru Kenyatta, who won a second term with 54 percent of the vote. Odinga also went to court to challenge Kenyatta’s previous election win in 2013 but failed.

Security was tight around the courthouse with armed police and barricaded streets. Another round of protests was expected if the court upholds Kenyatta’s victory. Human rights groups have said police killed at least 24 people in unrest that followed the Aug. 8 vote.

“This day is the D-day. We are going to know who is the president and we are very confident that the Supreme Court is going to give us our president,” said one Nairobi resident, Felix Achieng.

Local newspaper headlines declared Friday a “Date With Destiny.” Many shops in the capital remained closed.

Kenya’s electoral commission has said there was a hacking attempt but it failed. International election observers have said they saw no interference with the vote.

Unease around the election rose when the official who oversaw the electronic voting system was found tortured and killed days before the vote. But the unrest following last month’s election was far calmer than the post-election violence a decade ago that left more than 1,000 people dead.

“We should be in peace and be calm for the judgment and we should love one another and should not cause confrontations and commotion inside the town,” Nairobi resident Nicholas Anthony said.</s>NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya braced for further protests Friday as the Supreme Court was expected to rule on the opposition’s challenge to last month’s presidential election, with police deployed to sensitive areas of the capital, Nairobi.

Opposition candidate Raila Odinga claims that the electronic voting results were hacked into and manipulated in favor of President Uhuru Kenyatta, who won a second term with 54 percent of the vote. Odinga also went to court to challenge Kenyatta’s previous election win in 2013 but failed.

Security was tight around the courthouse with armed police and barricaded streets. Another round of protests was expected if the court upholds Kenyatta’s victory. Human rights groups have said police killed at least 24 people in unrest that followed the Aug. 8 vote.

“This day is the D-day. We are going to know who is the president and we are very confident that the Supreme Court is going to give us our president,” said one Nairobi resident, Felix Achieng.

Local newspaper headlines declared Friday a “Date With Destiny.” Many shops in the capital remained closed.

Kenya’s electoral commission has said there was a hacking attempt but it failed. International election observers have said they saw no interference with the vote.

Unease around the election rose when the official who oversaw the electronic voting system was found tortured and killed days before the vote. But the unrest following last month’s election was far calmer than the post-election violence a decade ago that left more than 1,000 people dead.

“We should be in peace and be calm for the judgment and we should love one another and should not cause confrontations and commotion inside the town,” Nairobi resident Nicholas Anthony said.</s>Nairobi, Kenya (CNN) "It was a terrible night of shooting," says Jane Anyango, hands outstretched showing the spent bullet casings that were a reminder of the violence that erupted after the Kenyan election results were announced last month.

Anyango was at home in the evening when she heard "careless, non-stop shooting," she says.

Terrified, she huddled with her 13-year-old son as the bullets rained down around their home.

"I have spent cartridges in my home and a crack in my roof. Body bags were also found inside the lake. We still don't know how many people were killed," she tells CNN.

Tensions have remained high since Kenya's Supreme Court annulled the results of the contentious presidential election Friday and ordered a new election within 60 days.

After initially appearing to accept the decision, President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday went on the offensive, stating there was a problem with the judiciary and he was going to fix it.

"We shall revisit this thing. We clearly have a problem," he said.

"Who even elected you? ... We have a problem and we must fix it," he said, speaking on live television at the State House in Nairobi.

Many are fearful that the Supreme Court's ruling and the new, hardened stance from the President could spark a new wave of violence.

One of the potential flashpoints, and an area that is being closely watched, is the Kibera slum.

In the midst of Kibera is the government-run Olympic Primary School. Locals say security forces fired indiscriminately at people living in Kibera after the initial election results and many of them were forced to shelter inside the school.

"The police intimidate people," entrepreneur Erick Okothendo told CNN. "If you go for peaceful demonstration, you get killed. We saw people put in body bags. At the gate of Olympic Primary school in Kibera you can see bullets.

"Why were they shooting at a school?"

Kibera is the biggest slum in Africa and a tinderbox mix of different tribes and ethnicities, ranging from the Luo to the predominantly Muslim Nubians who were the original settlers.

Today, the sprawling landscape is dotted with corrugated iron roof shacks amid mounds of rubbish and some brightly colored buildings.

Friday's ruling was the first time any court in Africa has annulled election results. And it is notable in a continent where government typically leans heavily on the judicial system to do its bidding.

"If we don't have faith in our independent institutions, it means that the country is dead, so it was not just about the elections but it was about this country," Anyango said.

Anyango says she knows well the devastating effects of post-election violence after one of her mentees, a 15-year-old girl, was hit by a stray bullet in the aftermath of the 2007/2008 elections -- one of the bloodiest in Kenya's history. The election violence left 1,300 people dead and more than 500,000 people were displaced.

Since then, she says, she has gathered groups of women to protest peacefully and to become peace ambassadors in areas of heightened post-election tension.

Anyango is now a global peace ambassador working with international NGOs.

The Supreme Court's ruling was a "rekindling of hope" in Kenya, she said.

However, she had scathing words for the team of international election observers, which included former US Secretary of State John Kerry.

"We are very disappointed in the international community. They came out and unanimously agreed that the elections were free and fair. The international community has desperately failed Kenyans," Anyango said.

"They didn't listen to what the opposition was bringing out. What this has shown me is that that Kenyans should be left to deal with their issues. They should not depend on anyone else to tell them what is good for them," she added.

The annulment of the election result was a rare win for supporters of the veteran opposition candidate Raila Odinga, who brought the case against Kenyatta's win to the Supreme Court.

This year's election bid was the fourth attempt for the 72-year-old, whose father was Kenya's first vice president.

Jane Iskah Oyora, who runs a dressmaking business in Kibera while caring for her children Gift, 9, and Jeremy, 2 months, told CNN she "danced and danced" after she found out the court's decision.

"I just love Raila Odinga. The way he speaks, he's intelligent," she said. "He has been successful four times but because of the rigging, that's why he's not managed it."

Odinga attracts staunch support in parts of the Kibera slum, where he is revered as a man of the people who will make life better for the poor.

"He promised that our children will go to school without paying school fees," Oyora said. "My biggest hope is that when he comes into power he will reduce the cost of living and my business will pick up.

"Life is very expensive. I want to move from here but I can't afford the rent anywhere else."

Some, like Okothendo, echo the sentiment that Odinga has been denied power because of cheating: "For the first time since I started voting, we got the justice," he said, referring to the court ruling..

"In Kenya, people have been saying he (Odinga) is always complaining of stolen elections. The reality was that elections in Kenya had always been stolen."

Some also see Odinga as a persecuted political figure in the mold of former South African President Nelson Mandela. Odinga has been imprisoned and had his wife and children targeted, and is Kenya's longest serving detainee.

Peace ambassador Anyango said: "We support him because he's the hope of so many Kenyans. We love his forgiving spirit and he brings everyone together.

"We want positive politics and he's the person that can unite this country."</s>Nairobi, Kenya (CNN) "It was a terrible night of shooting," says Jane Anyango, hands outstretched showing the spent bullet casings that were a reminder of the violence that erupted after the Kenyan election results were announced last month.

Anyango was at home in the evening when she heard "careless, non-stop shooting," she says.

Terrified, she huddled with her 13-year-old son as the bullets rained down around their home.

"I have spent cartridges in my home and a crack in my roof. Body bags were also found inside the lake. We still don't know how many people were killed," she tells CNN.

Tensions have remained high since Kenya's Supreme Court annulled the results of the contentious presidential election Friday and ordered a new election within 60 days.

After initially appearing to accept the decision, President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday went on the offensive, stating there was a problem with the judiciary and he was going to fix it.

"We shall revisit this thing. We clearly have a problem," he said.

"Who even elected you? ... We have a problem and we must fix it," he said, speaking on live television at the State House in Nairobi.

Many are fearful that the Supreme Court's ruling and the new, hardened stance from the President could spark a new wave of violence.

One of the potential flashpoints, and an area that is being closely watched, is the Kibera slum.

In the midst of Kibera is the government-run Olympic Primary School. Locals say security forces fired indiscriminately at people living in Kibera after the initial election results and many of them were forced to shelter inside the school.

"The police intimidate people," entrepreneur Erick Okothendo told CNN. "If you go for peaceful demonstration, you get killed. We saw people put in body bags. At the gate of Olympic Primary school in Kibera you can see bullets.

"Why were they shooting at a school?"

Kibera is the biggest slum in Africa and a tinderbox mix of different tribes and ethnicities, ranging from the Luo to the predominantly Muslim Nubians who were the original settlers.

Today, the sprawling landscape is dotted with corrugated iron roof shacks amid mounds of rubbish and some brightly colored buildings.

Friday's ruling was the first time any court in Africa has annulled election results. And it is notable in a continent where government typically leans heavily on the judicial system to do its bidding.

"If we don't have faith in our independent institutions, it means that the country is dead, so it was not just about the elections but it was about this country," Anyango said.

Anyango says she knows well the devastating effects of post-election violence after one of her mentees, a 15-year-old girl, was hit by a stray bullet in the aftermath of the 2007/2008 elections -- one of the bloodiest in Kenya's history. The election violence left 1,300 people dead and more than 500,000 people were displaced.

Since then, she says, she has gathered groups of women to protest peacefully and to become peace ambassadors in areas of heightened post-election tension.

Anyango is now a global peace ambassador working with international NGOs.

The Supreme Court's ruling was a "rekindling of hope" in Kenya, she said.

However, she had scathing words for the team of international election observers, which included former US Secretary of State John Kerry.

"We are very disappointed in the international community. They came out and unanimously agreed that the elections were free and fair. The international community has desperately failed Kenyans," Anyango said.

"They didn't listen to what the opposition was bringing out. What this has shown me is that that Kenyans should be left to deal with their issues. They should not depend on anyone else to tell them what is good for them," she added.

The annulment of the election result was a rare win for supporters of the veteran opposition candidate Raila Odinga, who brought the case against Kenyatta's win to the Supreme Court.

This year's election bid was the fourth attempt for the 72-year-old, whose father was Kenya's first vice president.

Jane Iskah Oyora, who runs a dressmaking business in Kibera while caring for her children Gift, 9, and Jeremy, 2 months, told CNN she "danced and danced" after she found out the court's decision.

"I just love Raila Odinga. The way he speaks, he's intelligent," she said. "He has been successful four times but because of the rigging, that's why he's not managed it."

Odinga attracts staunch support in parts of the Kibera slum, where he is revered as a man of the people who will make life better for the poor.

"He promised that our children will go to school without paying school fees," Oyora said. "My biggest hope is that when he comes into power he will reduce the cost of living and my business will pick up.

"Life is very expensive. I want to move from here but I can't afford the rent anywhere else."

Some, like Okothendo, echo the sentiment that Odinga has been denied power because of cheating: "For the first time since I started voting, we got the justice," he said, referring to the court ruling..

"In Kenya, people have been saying he (Odinga) is always complaining of stolen elections. The reality was that elections in Kenya had always been stolen."

Some also see Odinga as a persecuted political figure in the mold of former South African President Nelson Mandela. Odinga has been imprisoned and had his wife and children targeted, and is Kenya's longest serving detainee.

Peace ambassador Anyango said: "We support him because he's the hope of so many Kenyans. We love his forgiving spirit and he brings everyone together.

"We want positive politics and he's the person that can unite this country."</s>NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - Kenya braced for further protests Friday as the Supreme Court was expected to rule on the opposition's challenge to last month's presidential election, with police deployed to sensitive areas of the capital, Nairobi.

Opposition candidate Raila Odinga claims that the electronic voting results were hacked into and manipulated in favor of President Uhuru Kenyatta, who won a second term with 54 percent of the vote. Odinga also went to court to challenge Kenyatta's previous election win in 2013 but failed.

Security was tight around the courthouse with armed police and barricaded streets. Another round of protests was expected if the court upholds Kenyatta's victory. Human rights groups have said police killed at least 24 people in unrest that followed the Aug. 8 vote.

"This day is the D-day. We are going to know who is the president and we are very confident that the Supreme Court is going to give us our president," said one Nairobi resident, Felix Achieng.

Local newspaper headlines declared Friday a "Date With Destiny." Many shops in the capital remained closed.

Kenya's electoral commission has said there was a hacking attempt but it failed. International election observers have said they saw no interference with the vote.

Unease around the election rose when the official who oversaw the electronic voting system was found tortured and killed days before the vote. But the unrest following last month's election was far calmer than the post-election violence a decade ago that left more than 1,000 people dead.

"We should be in peace and be calm for the judgment and we should love one another and should not cause confrontations and commotion inside the town," Nairobi resident Nicholas Anthony said.
Seven schoolgirls are killed and ten hospitalised after a fire at the Moi Girls School in Nairobi, Kenya.