Kenya president says problem with judiciary must be fixed, vows to "revisit" after new election

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's president Uhuru Kenyatta said on Saturday the country has "a problem" with its judiciary that must be fixed, a day after the Supreme Court annulled his election win last month and ordered a new poll within 60 days. “We shall revisit this thing. We clearly have a problem," he said, referring to the judiciary. "Who even elected you? Were you? We have a problem and we must fix it," he said, speaking on live television at State House in Nairobi after he met with governor and other elected officials from his Jubilee party. Kenyatta also repeated his message from Friday that he would respect the court's ruling, an unprecedented move in Africa where governments often hold sway over judges. He said via Twitter on Saturday: "For now let us meet at the ballot." It is the second time since the court's ruling that Kenyatta issued a critical comment in public about the judiciary. On Friday during an impromptu rally in Nairobi, he criticised the court for ignoring the will of the people and dismissed the chief justice's colleagues as "wakora" (crooks). Analysts saw the president's latest comments on the judiciary as a worrisome development. "It's extremely unfortunate that Kenyatta seems to be issuing veiled threats at the judiciary," said Murithi Mutiga, a Nairobi-based senior Africa analyst at the International Crisis group. "This was a tremendous moment for Kenyan democracy, where the court upheld the rule of law. Politicians should be careful not to incite the public against the judiciary." On Friday, Chief Justice David Maraga said the Supreme Court's verdict was backed by four of the six judges and declared Kenyatta's victory "invalid, null and void". Details of the ruling will be released within 21 days. (Reporting by Maggie Fick; Additional reporting by George Obulutsa; Editing by Hugh Lawson)