Kenya's Uhuru in trouble with The Hague

As Kenyans head back to work after last week's general elections, the country is left wondering whether newly elected president Uhuru Kenyatta will be able to "chew gum and climb stairs". Can Uhuru survive an International Criminal Court indictment while establishing an effective national leadership?

Uhuru becomes just the first sitting president to be tried by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Uhuru's vice president, Willam Ruto, is also under indictment by The Hague, and it was Ruto who brushed off criticisms about the candidates' unprecendented legal woes during the campaign, saying the issue would be no more trouble than chewing gum and climbing the stairs.

ICC prosecutors also face a difficult balancing act. They are in the rather difficult position of securing justice for the 2007/2008 post-election violence victims, while bearing in mind that the Kenyan people have selected a suspect for their nation's highest office.

This reality must factor into any logistical arrangements for the trial scheduled to begin on 9 July, 2013. Previous attempts have been made to bring the cases back home or to the East African court in Arusha, Tanzania, but the request was rejected.

The next two weeks will prove anxious for Mr. Uhuru as he awaits another court ruling on the presidential election outcome. Uhuru's rival Raila Ondinga has challenged the election result in the Supreme Court, claiming that the vote resulted in "tainted elections."

Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta officially garnered 6,173,433 votes, while Raila got 5,340,546 votes, thus achieving the 50% mark required by the new constitution.

Addressing a press conference after the announcement of the results, Raila said, "this was a tainted elections. No one would have been happier than me to lose fairly”.

Technology challenges weakened the credibility of the Kenyan general elections. During the voting day, the electronic voter-identification system procured last year failed to function at the last minute.

The snafu forced the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission switch to a manual system. This same system was highly castigated in 2007, and allegations of vote rigging flew, which lead to the disastrous post elections violence. The electoral commission was also to transmit the results electronically to its tallying center in Nairobi, but that system also failed, leaving the poll operators with no option but travel to Nairobi physically with the ballot boxes.

During a thanksgiving church service in his home, Uhuru assured Kenyans that he will overcome the ICC and it will not affect his work of serving Kenyans. Meanwhile, the ICC has dropped the case of one the suspects, Francis Muthaura, the former head of civil service due to lack of evidence.

For the time being, Kenyans are watching and waiting to see if the new president can coordinate his legal and leadership challenges, or if he will stumble in the process.