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I thought it was time for another blog posting and the obvious topic is the Kenyan elections but I am quite nervous writing about it as I am no political expert and I still do not understand all the finer details, but I thought I would share with you my personal observations and experiences rather than all the politics as I unpack my grab back - see later!
Ok so I started this blog a while ago and never got round to finishing it. It is now Good Friday and I am at the coast having flown down last night staying in Watamu in my usual B&B. My friends are in a beautiful house up the road but this was a bit of a last minute decision for me so no room in the house unless I shared a room with a couple - I think I am a bit beyond all that and do not need being single rubbed! But it is probably the right day to try and write this blog as today the court ruling is due following the legal contesting of the presidential election.
So leading up to the elections, I took it upon myself to ensure we had a safety policy for staff at work and specific plans for the elections for worse case scenarios. My boss was not really into the planning and was very confident everything would turn out fine, but the expats in the office were nervous and all other NGOs seemed to have plans. I think as my boss was standing for MP that was his main focus! Many NGOs were closed for the week (the day of the election, a Monday, was a public holiday), some even shipped their staff to Arusha for two weeks in a convoy of buses. We planned to shut an additional day and then make a decision on that day on what we should do for the rest of the week with a pre-arranged ring round. I made sure we had all the Kenyan staff details and locations where they lived, emergency contacts etc. and we identified a number of threat levels and actions we would take based on these threat levels. In addition the UN had issued their incredibly comprehensive and somewhat scary briefing and soon even the British High Commission had issued theirs. Part of the recommended preparations was to stock up on food, water and phone credit - all very sensible and also prepare a 'grab bag' in case you had to leave quickly.
Living on my own and the only one in the building, and on the ground floor on one of the main roads in Nairobi and very close to where one of the major political parties (Raila's ODM) headquarters is based made me slightly nervous. Also Kibera the biggest slum with a tribal mix and where trouble tends to start was just a few roads away. My landlady who lives above me was away to vote and told me last time, the garden was full of rioters with pangas (machetes) but no one got into the building. So I had planned two contingency locations to stay in if I felt at all unsafe. In addition the cars in the many car lots near where I live the day before all disappeared taken to safer locations, making me feel even more nervous. A few days before, there seemed to be less market stalls around that were always open selling their fruit, veg and second hand clothing. Maybe innocently shut to allow the store holders to travel up country to vote or maybe to escape any potential tensions.
Leading up to the election, posters appeared on every surface available small individual ones for all the many positions be voted for; from county representative, to women's rep, senator, governor - in total 6 positions were being voted for in this new era of a devolved government according to the new constitution. However the main presidential candidates (8 in total but I only ever saw posters for 3 of them) had much more impressive, flashy bill boards each of them standing there with their running mate in the background making an attempt to talk about issues such as 'Jobs for All' or 'Better Healthcare' but everyone knowing it is not about the issues but about their tribes and alliances. Vuvuzellas and loud music pounded out on the streets was a frequent disturbance in the weeks leading up to the election as streams of motorbikes, trucks and matatus streamed past adorned with the relevant party colours - all paid for, not necessarily real supporters but no doubt from the right tribe. Talk in the office and in taxis were more and more about the elections and the first Kenyan presidential debates helped to fuel the discussions but everyone new it was really just two presidential candidates that were in the race Kenyatta and Raila - long standing rivals going back generations and involved in the 2007 elections and no doubt influenced some of the post election violence. The Saturday before the election, two massive rally's took place with 1000s of people attending, who then appeared all over town either adorned with orange or red hats, motorbike safety vests, umbrellas, t-shirts. Many paid for giveaways, but also many coming from entrepreneurs getting them made up and selling them to the crowd to make a bit of money.
With all the preparation, food cupboards full, emergency water stored and bag packed Election Day came. I planned to stay in over the two days and work from home. On the day of the election, the roads were quieter than Christmas day, everything was shut up (that didn't even happen at Christmas) and I put the TV on (something I never did), it was soon evident the turnout was huge. It was a hot day and lines of people were seen queuing for hours to place their votes. Later I heard that the electronic registration was the bottleneck that later in the day was abandoned as lap top batteries ran out of power! Pregnant women, the elderly and those with babies were allowed to pass up the queues and it was soon clear in some queues that babies were being recycled for 100 shillings or so, so they too started to have their little fingers inked to show that they had 'voted'! The turn out was over 80%, extraordinary and embarrassing for a Brit whose country has such a low turn out.
We had been promised the presidential results would be announced first within 24hours - identifying whether there was enough of a clear win by determined by the number of counties won (more than half) and overall votes being over 50%. That night it was evident the electronic counting was not working as well as they were expecting, and spoiled papers also seemed high. All the TV channels had elaborate charts and reporting and there were live feeds from the results centre. But it was hard to work out what was happening and it seemed extremely slow. The next day, I got up and put the TV on, planning to have breakfast and then do some exercise (my usual exercise DVDs). It was still extremely quiet outside, and as I put the kettle on in the kitchen one of the ascaris waved at me through the window. Not too usual but then she knocked on my door, very unusual and sheepishly asked if she could come in and watch the results. I could hardly say no to someone so interested in the results. Soon two of them were ensconced on my sofa, me at my table with laptop and didn't really move all day. Results dripped in but no real clarity as to what was happening. But all seemed reasonably peaceful outside. The ring round happened Kenyan style…when we say check in by 10am to confirm everyone was safe, hardly anyone did other than the non Kenyans! When we said by 4pm myself, by boss and the HR Manager would make a decision about work the next day, by 3.55 I could still not get through to anyone. Eventually past 4 I did and we agreed to go to work and if anything kicked off over night to call people. Nothing did so off to work I went. I usually walk with many other people down the road, but on that day there was hardly any people walking or driving - that was a bit freaky. Where was everyone? Most staff were at work; a few were off sick - blaming standing out in the hot sun for many hours so likely to be true. The rest of the week went smoothly but I felt a bit holed up not really wanting to go out in the evenings as there was still a bit of tension in the air with the presidential results still not announced and appeals for re-counting to be done. Meanwhile I had got a car leased from a friend that was travelling for three weeks, but I was not that confident on driving around in areas I did not know that well at night when things were all still a bit tense.
On the following Saturday morning the results promised to be announced that day. I was woken up to the sound of many people walking down the road. I peered out my window where I can make out the road through the gate. It was about 6am and still dark, so I could not make out if they were wearing red or orange the colours of the two main parties. My ascaris and the house girl were looking out and I nervously went back to bed but nothing seemed to happen. I looked at my phone and saw a text from my friend Cat who had been in a club on Friday night and at 3am they announced that Kenyatta had won to rapturous applaud! So maybe they were supporters- hopefully not those opposing the result.
The formal announcement was that morning, and the opposition said they would use the judicial process to put in a complaint. All was quiet. The court result took another 3 weeks for the original result to be upheld. Thankfully there was virtually no violence and everything went back to normal with posters legally having to be taken down and all rubbish cleared away within a set time frame. So here we are with a new president in place, new photos of him appearing in every office and another day off to watch the ceremony (or work from home again). I am sure there were things that did not happen as they should have, but I am very pleased that Kenyans all came out to vote and have stuck by the result - lets just see what the new era brings with the richest man in Kenya now in power and the ICC case still pending.
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