The US embassy on September 1, has issued a travel advisory to citizens living in the lakeside region ahead of the Supreme Court’s determination of the presidential election petition.

The United States has attributed this declaration to previous instances of post-election Violence in the Kisumu region.

While imposing the restriction, the embassy has asked its citizens to remain vigilant and minimize movement, especially to Kisumu.

"The Kenyan Supreme Court is scheduled to announce a ruling on the presidential results on September 5, 2022.  Kenya has periodically experienced some post-electoral violence during election cycles," the embassy said.

Judging by the past the US embassy says it is highly likely that chaos may erupt if voters are not satisfied with the seven-judge ruling.

"Election-related demonstrations and rallies regularly occur after elections, blocking key intersections and causing traffic jams. Demonstrations may occasionally be violent, requiring police intervention.  Strikes and other protest activities related to economic conditions occur regularly,” the US embassy statement read.

While issuing the travel advisory the embassy was also quick to note that it is not privy to any direction the judges might take. Therefore any travel advisory should not be misconstrued to mean that the Supreme Court will rule in favour of or against any particular candidate.

The US Embassy has asked their citizens to avoid crowds to  be vigilant when visiting banks or ATMs, avoid demonstrations, monitor updates on local media, stay low profile, and carry identification cards and travel documents 

Right before the elections on August 2, the US Embassy issued another directive cautioning citizens from visiting the city unless extremely necessary.

The US Embassy maintains that this is a routine security alert and the embassy has no information of planned violence.