by: Jennifer Kumar
Today, December 30, 2007, the results of the Kenyan presidential election were announced three days after the election commenced.
Though, Hon. Mwai Kibaki has completed his election acceptance speech, there are Kenyans not happy with the result. Our friends blogging at Wandering the World, in fact, report one hour after results were announced and Mr. Kibaki's speech, fires are being set in the city and Mr. Odinga "demanding" a recount (source).
In trying to understand the reasons for the ongoing violence throughout Nairobi city and slums and other towns in Kenya. I have formulated some ideas for why this is happening:
1. The election tallies were released very late, forcing most to assume election rigging.
2. The thought of rigging enticed violence, making going out to stores and running errands
impossible for most. (Read "Still Waiting" and "Election violence as many feel they have been
robbed ", both written by expats living in Nairobi, Kenya.) Some even have yet to celebrate
Christmas for reasons I have yet to fully understand.
3. The Winner hails from a different tribe (Kikuyu) than his challenger Raila Odinga (Luo tribe).
With the suspected rigging and voting tallies so close, this increases the tension and,
incidentally reports of looting. (Source article from UK
Telegraph.)
4. Kenya gained independence in 1963 from Great Britain. The country is a relatively young
democracy, struggling to identify themselves and also incorporated a multi-party democracy
which is only 15 years old (source), which would entice growing pains (including a rumor that
the challenger's name may have been left off some rosters - source).
I find it ironic that though this process the American government has been releasing communication (VOA is one source.), but I have not heard this information on local or cable news. I also read that during the tally process, local media [in Kenya] outlets were shut down and news intentionally not released to prevent more violence. Our expat friends on Wandering the World recently returned to Nairobi from abroad and did not know they would encounter "empty streets," closed shopping centers, and people on streets with clubs because, "...updates have been hard to come by on international news channels due to Bhutto’s assassination on Thursday. Her death has been the primary story on every news outlet, making channel surfing a necessity."
In learning about this Kenyan election, I am learning more about the world.
[Last paragraph intentionally deleted by author.]
Further sources: Kenya's Kibaki back in the lead, riots flare | BBC Focus on Africa- Listen now!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Hon. Mwai Kibaki Accepts Second 5- Year Term as Kenyan President
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2 comments:
Jennifer for news might want to check the New York Times
“The presidential elections were flawed,” said Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, the chief European observer.
Koki Muli, co-chairwoman of the Kenya Election Domestic Observation Forum, said she was in the room on Sunday when the election commission was presented with dozens of suspicious tally sheets — some missing signatures, others missing stamps — and most of them were from the president’s stronghold of central Kenya. In some areas, more people voted for the president than there were registered voters. “I saw this with my own eyes,” she said.
Ms. Muli said that 75 of the 210 constituencies — meaning more than one-third of the vote — had serious question marks and that the election chairman initially agreed to investigate. But later on Sunday he changed his mind.
Kenya is a close American ally, and a team of Western diplomats, including the American ambassador, tried for hours to persuade election officials to recount the votes. One Western ambassador said they knew that if the dubious results were certified and the president declared the winner based on them, Kenya would plunge into crisis. But the commission would not budge.
“The government was determined to hold onto power,” said the ambassador, who did not want to be identified because he said he feared reprisals from the Kenyan government."
check the New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/world/africa/31kenya.html?pagewanted=2&hp
This is worse than what we experienced during the Al Gore/George Bush debacle.
Look at this article in the Financial Times.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/07576eba-b706-11dc-aa38-0000779fd2ac.html
David,
Thank you for the information.
Now I have some new places to look for that news. Interestingly, I get many news articles from 'google alerts' and did not remember opening any stories through google from US sources.
After reading your thoughts, I am tempted to update the last paragraph of the story. I agree with you that it is definately a more intense and dangerous situation than in U.S...
Jennifer
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