Kenyan Elections 2013 - A Very Quick Summary!

• From the hotel in Tanzania we kept an eye on the unfolding elections. This is a brief summary of a long few days:
• Voting started with huge queues kilometres long at most polling stations. Showing how serious and passionate the Kenyans are especially given the heat of the day.
• The counting was being fed to the TV and a running total was at the foot of the screen.
• After a couple of days this seemed to stall and for 24 hours there was no change.
• We began to fear the worst. Would the patience of the Kenyans run out, would people use this to agitate trouble, etc.
• There were reports of problems with the electronic voting system and patience was requested as they resorted to the manual system.
• The totals were taken off the TV screen for a day or so.
• Counting resumed and the difference between Uhuru and Odinga had changed dramatically.
• Over the next couple of days the gap hovered around 500,000 with Uhuru in the lead. Then on the Thursday night the gap started to close. At one point it was down to 100,000 this would lead to a run off. By Friday morning it had extended again, at the close Uhuru had won by the required 50% plus one or more.
• There was the inevitable protest from the other party. This would probably have happened had the results been the other way too and was expected.
• Investigation was then required and a judgement from the supreme court.
• The process was concluded with the court declaring the result valid and 9^th August Uhuru was declared president.
• There is obviously much more to it than that and there are many sources of background on the internet – refer to www.nation.ke for one source etc. 

March 2013 - RELOCATION OF 29 VOLUNTEERS TO TANZANIA

After a full day at the VSO office sorting out the final preparations and making sure all the volunteers were safely en-route to Nairobi, I set off to the Hotel in Nairobi where we were to leave from the following day. I had a full bag of my stuff (we had to pack as if we might get evacuated to our home countries for a few weeks) 3 envelopes of cash in Kenyan shillings, Tanzanian shillings and Dollars around £2000 in total. This was to cover the cost of Visas, allowances for the volunteers and a contingency fund for the stay. Luckily I got a lift to the hotel. 

9 volunteers from outside Nairobi were staying overnight and the rest were meeting us in the morning to board one of the two buses that were to take us to take us to Arusha, Tanzania. Ben and Makenna (Director and Head of Programmes respectively from VSO Jitolee) were on hand to see us off and clarify any final matters before handing over the Nicole (another volunteer) and me to take care of any problems whilst we were away. 

Wendy the other volunteer representative was travelling direct with the Mombasa team.

The trip to the boarder was painless. The process to exit Kenya and enter Tanzania was on balance pretty simple given there were 25 of us but with chaotic queues and having to work out what the process was as we went along it was quite entertaining. To assist others the process for pedestrians (from memory) was as follows, If you have a vehicle there are other papers, processed and buildings to visit to process the exit and entry of your car:

-       After passing through a traffic barrier and police gate you are then in the Kenya border zone. On getting to the Kenya exit building (at the top of the hill last building on the right before the gate). Obtain a form (yellow or blue card A4 sized available in the building) fill in your personal details, passport, where you have travelled from, where you are going, when you are due to return, details of your tour company if applicable and a contact address in Tanzania. Top tip is carry a pen so you can fill this in in the queue.

-       At the desk you hand this in with your passport and get the appropriate exit stamps etc.

-       Then you go out and cross through the Kenya gate and into no-mans land. This is where care is needed!!

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    NOTE – As you pass through the Kenya gate you enter what is a large dusty gravel area and looks like a truck stop. In the distance, towards the left are some administrative buildings and a Tanzania flag. You should head to these and ignore the very persuasive hustlers who work as a team to un-nerve you and convince you they are genuine. They try and say if you give them $50 they will give you 3,000 Tanzanian shillings and sort you out the stamp you need. This is a scam. 3000 TzS are worth around $1.5!!! the stamp is a fake and you will still have to pay the $50 ($100 for Americans – don’t know why?) when you get to the official building. So just walk past anyone and keep a tight watch on your bags, wallet and passport.

-          Once safely in the Tanzania Visa building a helpful official will hand to a form similar to the one you filled in on the Kenya side. You then join the relevant queue for your visa position and pay your $50 ($100 for Americans). Then once you get the stamps you are clear to go.

-          Returning to Kenya is a reverse of the above.

-          From memory I believe this should be a good guide. If anyone has anything to add please let  me know and  will update it.

So we entered Tanzania and drive through a dry scrub land with occasional Masaai style villages. The road from the border was one of the best I have been on in Africa. We made good progress with views of Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru.

As we entered the outskirts of Arusha the bus I was in started playing up and there was a strong smell of burning. Eventually it ground to a halt with stem rising from the engine. Being volunteers we rolled our sleeves up and pushed it to the side (well actually the ladies did as you can see from the photo). We transferred the people to the other bus for the last 5km and our bags arrived later when the working bus had gone back to retrieve them.

We were to stay at the hotel Pentagon which was about 3-4km out of the centre. This is a pretty good hotel and all was good.

Over the next few days we were at our leisure to explore the area. Arusha is a great place, quite modern and the people are very friendly. We noticed we received much less attention, less shouts of Mzungu, etc. which was nice. There were many ex-pats in town as many other organisations and individuals had chosen to get out for the elections. Also holiday makers had been relocated too.

Top Tips for a stay in Arusha

Good coffee – http://www.africafetanzania.com/

Pizza – Pepe Italian Restaurant – Kanisa Road

Ethiopian Restaurant  Spices and Herbs - Phone 255 572279 Mobile: 0742-401050 Simeon Road (also known as New Moshi Road) on the right as you go up the hill from the roundabout.

Sazan Japanese Restaurant – +255 732 978 624 - Awesome place with great food at amazing prices. Where Kanisa Road meets Nelson Mandela Road head out of town on Nelson Mandela Road (also known as Nyerere Road) about 200m on the right is where you will find it.