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. 

February 2013 - Security Meeting

With the forthcoming elections 4^th March in Kenya and the troubles in the last ones in 2007/8 there were inevitable concerns about security risks to volunteers etc. There had been a number of meetings to put plans in place for every eventuality. I was involved as one of the regional volunteer representatives. The latest meeting was following the decision to relocate us to Tanzania as a precautionary measure from 2^nd March for a week or so. This also allowed the office to close and the staff to concentrate on their families etc. There is a lot written about the 2007/08 election violence so any google search will find many commentaries. There is also a very good documentary on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUUcjWC6rG8 not easy viewing but the personal interviews and viewpoints give a very intimate and emotional perspective on the impact of the events on real people not just a headline about a far of country.

There were many views amongst the volunteers about this decision. Most agreed it was the right thing to do, but a small number thought it was an over-reaction. My perspective was: Yes there is unlikely to be any trouble in the village where I live but, other volunteers are less fortunate. Also last time the staff at VSO had to try and extract volunteers from high risk areas after the trouble started, meanwhile a number had family members unaccounted for. The most important thing for me was to let the Kenyans focus on their families. We were praying for peace but planning for the worst. If it turned out in hindsight to be an over-reaction then that was OK. Better that than the other way around!

Late Jan - Kenya - Primary Elections

Kenya is due to have Presidential elections 4^th March 2013 and this week they had the primaries where the parties each ask the people to select candidates to stand for them. After the last elections (refer to my 12 December 2012 Post) there were warnings for volunteers from various agencies to take care and avoid polling stations etc. Now, the polytechnic where I work was a polling station and so was the Children’s home where I live!! Anyway, Kandara is a peaceful place and had no trouble during the last elections.

So Dorcas the Polytechnic Manager and I decided to attend the Poly (closed for polling) so we could market the institution. We had 700 people coming from the local area to vote so it was an opportunity not to be missed. Luckily for us but not for the people wanting to vote, there was a huge delay in getting the voting boxes and papers to the site. They were due at 6am, we arrived at 9 and there was a large queue of people of all ages patiently waiting.

We had given the polling clerks access to a classroom but we opened up the rest of the school and got benches and chairs out for the older ones to rest. Dorcas and I then did regular double acts with me attempting my Kikuyu (local tribal language) that I have about 10 words of and have not quite got the accent right yet – but always get a laugh!! I am a little better at Kiswahilli. We were telling the crowd about the poly, our plans for the future, how we have changed, the computer course etc, etc. This broke up the monotony of waiting. Eventually the decision was made to extend the voting period for another day. The boxes and papers returned the following day.

The following day people turned out again in huge numbers, patiently queued and placed their votes. Over the two days I met some great people and had some fantastic and informative chats with a diverse range of people. My understanding of Kenyan politics and the process was significantly improved, a great couple of days.

Given the concerns and history, it was fantastic that everyone was so patient and cheerful through this whole process. Despite having their work and valuable income generating time disrupted for 2 days, Kenyans took their voting rights and politics very seriously and would not miss the opportunity to have their say. This is such a contrast to my experience in the UK where politics is pretty dull, there is significant ambivalence and apathy towards the whole process and voter turnout is woefully low.

So my over-riding feeling after the two days was a huge respect and admiration for Kenyans. Politics is taken very seriously. It is a shame that much of the reporting (especially internationally) was about the “delays and chaos” and not about how well the people accepted the delays and coped with the searing heat to ensure they cast their valuable vote. I can’t help thinking that in the UK a large proportion would have gone to work and said “forget it!”. There are many things I see and experience in Kenya that are so much better than in the west. It is a shame that only the bad and negative things get reported.