Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi leaves Sunday for Harare, Zimbabwe to attend the inauguration ceremony of newly elected Zimbabwean President Emerson Mnangagwa slated for Monday, September 4.
According to a dispatch from his office, the official visit will take two days. Mudavadi will be representing President William Ruto at the swearing-in ceremony to be held at the National Sports Stadium.
The statement further underscored the strong relations between the two countries even as Kenya congratulated Mnangagwa on his re-election for the second term.
“On behalf of the government and the people of Kenya, H.E President William Ruto congratulates President-elect, H.E Dr. Emmerson Mnangagwa on his re-election for the second term,” Salim Swaleh, PCS Director Press Service said.
He went on to share President Ruto’s congratulatory message to the Zimbabweans for a peaceful election process.
“President William Ruto commends the people of the Republic of Zimbabwe for peacefully exercising their constitutional right during the election process. Kenya remains steadfast in its commitment to strengthening the long-standing relationship it shares with the government and the people of the Republic of Zimbabwe” he stated.
Mnangagwa won last week’s presidential election with 52.6% of the vote, after a process decried by the opposition.
The electoral commission said Mnangagwa’s main challenger, Nelson Chamisa, won 44% of the vote.
Mnangagwa and Chamisa also battled it out in the last vote in 2018. The opposition claimed at the time the vote was rigged, but the result was upheld by the constitutional court.
The 80-year-old Mnangagwa nicknamed “the crocodile” took over the reins of the country when his predecessor, the longtime strongman Robert Mugabe, was deposed in a military coup in 2017.
His ruling ZANU-PF party has been in power for 43 years.
