Uhuru Kenyatta: following in father's footsteps

(Refile of a report first transmitted on March 6, 2013) SCRIPT: Uhuru Kenyatta is a man steeped in Kenyan politics. His father Jomo served as Kenya's first president from 1964–1978 following independence from Britain. He’s held a raft of government positions, from trade and finance minister, to deputy prime minister under Raila Odinga, his rival in Kenya’s presidential election. He comes from the country’s biggest tribe, the Kikuyu – just like outgoing president, Mwai Kibaki. Ethnic rivalries tend to dominate in Kenya and in a move some say might help unite the country, Kenyatta chose former adversary William Ruto – a Kalejin -- as a running mate ahead of this year's Presidential election. SOUNDBITE 1 Adjoa Anyimadu, Researcher, Africa Program at Chatham House(English, 27 sec): "What's been important though is that Kenyatta and his running mate William Ruto were actually on opposing sides in the 2007 elections. By coming together, they have brought together quite substantial ethnic communities: the Kalenjin and the Kikuyu in Kenya. They've also got behind them a widespread coalition. Yet, the past may come to haunt Kenyatta. In January last year both he and Ruto were indicted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for organising a wave of inter-ethnic violence that left more than 1,000 people dead after the 2007 vote. It's a charge Kenyatta flatly denies. SOUNDBITE 2 Uhuru Kenyatta (man), Presidential candidate (English, 14 secs): "What we are doing here is focusing ourselves on building a new Kenya, a prosperous Kenya and dealing with the issues that is the main concern of this country, it's not the ICC is ensuring our young men and women get jobs and are able to develop our country and economy." Kenyatta is one of Kenya's richest and most powerful men. His family own vast swathes of the most valuable land. There have been whisperings of shady business deals and opponents say he can't be trusted. SOUNDBITE 3 Raila Odinga (man), Presidential candidate (English, 4 secs): "You cannot allow a hyena to protect your goats." SOUNDBITE 4 Uhuru Kenyatta, Presidential candidate (English, 13 secs): "Til to date, save for the rumours that have been peddled around, nobody, nobody has ever pointed out and said that I have been involved impropriety, in land, anywhere in this country." While Kenyatta shrugs off domestic charges he has said he will go to The Hague to clear his name, failure to do so could invite a raft of international sanctions against East Africa's biggest economy. SHOTLIST: GATUNDU, KENYA, MARCH 4, 2013. SOURCE: AFPTV -WS Uhuru Kenyatta arrives at the polling station NAIROBI, 1963 (SOURCE: AFP) PHOTOS x 2 - Jomo Kenyatta UHURU PARK, NAIROBI, APRIL 11, 2011. SOURCE: AFPTV - WS of people dancing ADDIS ABABA, January 27, 2013 (SOURCE: AFPTV) - Mwai Kibaki, President of Kenya LONDON, MARCH 5, 2013 SOUNDBITE 1 NAKURU, KENYA, DECEMBER 2, 2012, SOURCE: AFPTV (CLEMENT MAINA) -WS of deputy prime minister Uhuru Kenyatta and former minister and running mate to Kenyatta, William Ruto, shaking hands -WS of Uhuru and Ruto Dancing SOUNDBITE 1 - Analyst NAIROBI, KENYA, JANUARY 2008, SOURCE: AFPTV, - VAR violence and looting on 31 Dec 2007 in Kibera, Nairobi, area of Raila Odinga, opposition candidate LOITOKITOK, KENYA, 23rd February, 2013 (SOURCE: AFPTV) -WS crowd -WS Uhuru Kenyatta waving to crowd -WS crowd SOUNDBITE 1: Uhuru Kenyatta -CU Kenyatta -WS crowd -WS Uhuru Kenyatta arriving at debate, filmed by KBC on the 25th February, 2013 (SOURCE: KBC) SOUNDBITE 2: Raila Odinga SOUNDBITE 3: Uhuru Kenyatta THE HAGUE, APRIL 8, 2011. SOURCE: AFPTV -VAR of Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenyan Deputy Prime Minister arriving to the CPI /// ----------------------------------------------------- AFP TEXT STORY: Kenya-vote-Kenyatta-ICC,PROFILE Uhuru Kenyatta: following in father's presidential footsteps by Peter Martell NAIROBI, March 9, 2013 (AFP) - Son of Kenya's founding president, Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday took up his father's mantle to become head of state despite facing trial for crimes against humanity over election violence five years ago. Uhuru -- meaning "freedom", and Kenyatta, the "light of Kenya" in Swahili -- carries his country's aspirations in his name, but brings with him controversy. Kenyatta, 51, and running mate William Ruto face trial in the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity for their alleged role in having orchestrated 2007-08 post-election unrest. Hugely wealthy, he was born in 1961 shortly after the release of his father Jomo from nearly 10 years' incarceration by British colonial forces, and two years before Kenya's independence. Fifty years on, the outgoing deputy prime minister and former finance minister is one of Kenya's richest and most powerful men, with the Kenyatta family owning vast swathes of some of the country's richest lands. The Kenyatta family business empire also includes major banking and media interests as well as Kenya's main dairy business. Educated in the United States at the elite Amherst College, where he studied political science and economics, he is considered the top political leader of the Kikuyu people, Kenya's largest tribe making up some 17 percent of the population. However, he also appeals to large numbers of Kenyans from different ethnic backgrounds, able to mingle not only with the elite he was born into but also with the average Kenyan, cracking jokes using local street slang. With permanent heavy bags beneath his eyes and well dressed in pin stripe business suits, Kenyatta exudes an image of power and entitlement. But while a leaked 2009 US diplomatic cable described him as "bright and charming, even charismatic" it also noted that he "drinks too much and is not a hard worker". In the early 1990s, he joined with the sons of other independence heroes to call for reform but gradually drew closer to autocratic former president Daniel arap Moi. "He went into politics partly because Moi asked him to, and probably because it was a good way to protect his family's interests at a time of political transition," said Daniel Branch, a professor at Britain's Warwick University. "Until recently, politics never mattered as much personally for Kenyatta as for Raila," he added, referring to his key rival he beat on Saturday, Prime Minister Raila Odinga. -- One of the richest men in Africa -- Kenyatta threw his weight behind then incumbent President Mwai Kibaki in the December 2007 election, a poll that rapidly descended into chaos and left over 1,100 dead and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes. Delays in the 2007 vote count saw violence erupt over suspicion that Kibaki was stealing the election from Odinga, and killings mainly targeting Kikuyus spread across the country. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights has accused Kenyatta of attending meetings in early 2008 to plan for retaliatory violence by the Kikuyu. ICC prosecutors say he mobilised the Mungiki -- a sect-like Kikuyu criminal organisation known for skinning and beheading its victims -- to attack opposition supporters. Kenyatta, listed by Forbes magazine as one of the richest people in Africa, faces five counts including orchestrating murder, rape, forcible transfer and persecution in the polls' aftermath. The Kikuyu launched reprisal attacks in which homes were torched and people hacked to death in the worst outbreak of violence since independence. Kenyatta has repeatedly said he will cooperate with the court, even though it could mean he will be absent from Kenya for long periods, with the trial expected by many to stretch for several years. "I will be able to handle the issue of clearing our names... while at the same time ensuring that the business of government continues," Kenyatta said in reply to a question about how he and Ruto will juggle court appearances and run the country. Kenya, as a signatory to the Rome Statute that established The Hague-based ICC, would be forced to act on any arrest warrant issued by the court should the pair refuse to attend trial. Kenyatta, who insists his "conscience is clear", has said that he and Ruto "understand and recognize the rule of law and we will continue to cooperate so long as we are signatories of the Rome statute". His supporters hail him as a hero, but he divides opinion as he prepares to lead his country and face an international trial. END