Chance for Kenya to Change??

[Thinkerman]

Well i certainly hope so. This sujui is feeling very hone sick

 

'Landslide' routs Kenya's ruling party

 

 

Opposition supporters flashed the victory sign

 

Kenya's opposition has won a landslide victory in the country's elections in a humiliating rout of the ruling Kanu party, preliminary results show.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

Mwai Kibaki: 62%

 

Uhuru Kenyatta: 29%

 

Simeon Nyachae: 7.5%

 

4.9 million votes counted

 

10.5 million registered voters

 

Source: Institute for Education in Democracy

 

 

Election diary

 

 

Though all the votes have not yet been counted, the electoral commission said there was no doubt that Mwai Kibaki of the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) would be the country's next president.

 

"He has won convincingly, and we will announce it officially later today, when these interim results have been accepted and certified," spokesman Mani Lemayian told the Reuters news agency.

 

The result has been described as a political earthquake for the east African nation.

 

Correspondents say voters appear to have tired of the corruption, poverty and ailing economy that has marked much of Kenya's political life since independence from Britain in 1963.

 

Huge lead

 

With ballots counted in more than half of the 210 parliamentary constituencies, Mr Kibaki had won nearly 62% of votes, compared with 29% for Kanu candidate Uhuru Kenyatta, figures from the Institute for Education in Democracy show.

 

Mr Kibaki's 1.6 million-vote lead over Mr Kenyatta would be impossible to beat given the number of votes remaining to be counted, the institute said.

 

Narc's Raila Odinga said: "The Kenyan people have now spoken, and it is with great joy and humility that we accept their trust in President-elect Kibaki."

 

In the parliamentary race, the institute's results show that Narc had captured 114 seats, with Kanu trailing with 42 seats.

 

Looking for change

 

Outgoing President Daniel arap Moi of the Kanu party has repeated his commitment not to hold on to office and has urged the armed forces to support whoever wins the poll.

 

Asked on Saturday if he was disappointed that Kanu seemed to be losing the election, Mr Moi replied: "That's democracy."

 

 

Many Kenyans can only remember Moi as being president

 

In Mombasa, ecstatic Narc supporters danced in the streets, chanting and displaying victory signs.

 

"I am feeling excited because it is the will of the people, and people have looked for a change," one told the Associated Press news agency.

 

"I hope to experience a change in my lifestyle and for fellow Kenyans as well."

 

Correspondents warn Mr Moi's successor will be hard-pushed to live up to these kind of expectations.

 

'Orderly poll'

 

Official results are expected on Sunday, two days after Kenyans flocked to elect a successor to Mr Moi, a new parliament and local councils.

 

Many Kenyans can only remember one president throughout their lifetimes - Mr Moi - and this election has been eagerly anticipated.

 

This is the only opportunity we have to break from the past and have a new beginning

 

 

Uhuru Kenyatta

Kanu candidate

 

 

Election in quotes

 

Analysts say that Mr Moi is one of the last of Africa's "big men" - who built up personality cults in the countries they ruled - often for many decades.

 

Commonwealth election observers have hailed the "orderly" poll.

 

"The people of Kenya, the political leaders and the parties deserve to be congratulated on their demonstrated belief in, and commitment to, democratic values and ethics, in particular to free, fair, peaceful and transparent elections," a statement said.

 

The BBC's Ishbel Matheson in Nairobi says the election has been the most peaceful poll in the country since the introduction of multi-party elections in 1992.

 

However, a policeman in a vehicle carrying ballot papers mistakenly shot dead a polling agent and his assistant in another car in the western district of Kisii on Friday night, Reuters reports.

[nuune]

the opposition all the way!

[Ayaan8321]

i think its time NARC has taken charge and i hope they make a difference.....KANU has always been there and things just got worse its about time they stepped down

[Paragon]

NARC rainbow won the elections. Now lets see what different they'll make for the ordinary kenyans. Mr Kibaki is officially the third president of Kenya since independence..... we are on....

[Ladiif]

I heard almost all the somalis voted against Kibaki and his party. They voted for Kanu party which has been swept. Somalis were supporters of Kanu for the last 24 yrs and many kenyans blamed General Mohamoud and his men of Moi staying in office that long. Now that Moi has left, what is in store for the somalis? Will they be punished for some of the things which had happened in Moi's period? What will happen to the somali population in Nairobi who are originally from somali?

[WarsameYare]

Good point Ladiif, It seems that Somalist are slow to react to the winds of change in the political arena. Indeed many regions in Kenya voted for Kanu over the years but unlike Somalis this time they figured out the situation and turned to the winner and routed KANU. Even the Coast region where our fellow Muslims this time chose NARC instead of KANU and dumped their most famous sons like Shariff Nassir who was in the political arean for almst thirty years and became the voice of the coast.

[Thinkerman]

I dont think anything other than a positive out-look can come out of this change in govt. A positive out look for Kenyans and somali's alike.

 

A least know corruption has been acknowledged and has been set as an Official priorty that needs to be talcked.

So things will improve hopefully in the short-run, perhaps more realisticlly in the long run.

 

Buty i dont share ur perssimism Ladiif. I think all kenyans citizens whether Kenyan or not will have a brighter out look now.

[mojam]

I don't know much about Kenya but I found the following to be interresting. from khilafah.com

 

BACKGROUND

On December 27, 2002 Kenya saw its eighth general elections since pseudo-independence from British colonial rule in 1963. During all these years, Kenya has been ruled by the Kenya African National Union (KANU) under the iron hand of the first president, Jomo Kenyatta, who took power in 1963 until he died in 1978, followed by the second president, Daniel Arap Moi, who has ruled for 24 years until he was forced to retire at the end of this year. Multi-party politics were allowed for a brief spell following independence but all other parties were crushed by the late 1960s following which KANU was practically the only political party until Kenyatta died. Moi took over and continued crushing all opposition voices, and in 1982 the constitution was changed to make Kenya a de jure one-party state with all alternative political parties outlawed by law. Moi ruled with an iron fist using all state machinery at his disposal, a rule which was tacitly supported by Kenya's western patrons who feared any radical change which could threaten their continuing colonial interests in this key country.

 

However, following the declaration of the 'New World Order' in 1990 by George Bush senior following the collapse of the communist ideological threat to the West's capitalist ideology, the US has worked hard to impose its singular rule throughout the third world by using the call to multi-party democracy in order to bring into power new leaders submissive to its domination rather than the old European colonial powers. In Kenya, this translated into the US pushing for 'change' in the early 1990s, under the brash voice of the then US ambassador, Smith Hempstone, who openly advocated for pluralist democracy and economic liberalism while openly interfering in Kenya's internal affairs contrary to diplomatic etiquette. Western pressure forced Moi to amend the constitution in 1990 to permit multi-party democracy following which KANU faced a strong challenge to its rule.

 

Hempstone was behind the formation of several opposition parties, all of which were led by former KANU stalwarts who miraculously saw the light and became true democrats overnight, with the US publicly supporting the opposition in the first multi-party elections in 1992. However Moi and KANU were able to retain power even though they only won a minority of votes due to their use of state resources, vote rigging, state-engineered ethnic clashes to disenfranchise opposition strongholds, and last but not least, opposition disunity. Since the existing opposition leaders each sought power for himself and encouraged tribalism to support his bid for power this only splintered the opposition vote (see Hempstone's book, 'Rogue Ambassador' for more details). The same recipe for KANU success was used again in the second multi-party elections in 1997 while the opposition made the same errors.

 

CURRENT SITUATION

However, things have apparently turned out differently in the third multi-party elections of December 27, 2002 in which Moi was forced to retire according to the constitutional provision permitting any president a maximum of two terms. Moi forced KANU to choose a political novice, Uhuru Kenyatta, as its presidential candidate based upon his being the son of the first president, Jomo Kenyatta, and the hope that the Kikuyu - the most numerous tribe - would overwhelmingly back him. This choice led to a major crisis in KANU with many senior old KANU officials opposing the choice for fear it deprived them of their chance for power. A major rebellion broke out in KANU, led by Raila Odinga - a former opposition firebrand turned KANU hack, and cabinet minister turned KANU rebel, turned opposition firebrand - who formed a lobby group within KANU, the 'Rainbow Coalition', which merged some of his major rivals within KANU - such as the former vice president Professor George Saitoti, KANU party vice president Kalonzo Musyoka, former KANU secretary general and diehard Moi supporter Joseph Kamotho - into a coalition to oppose the Uhuru nomination in a bid to gain the nomination for one of the major players of the coalition.

 

Meanwhile, the opposition seemed to have learnt the lessons of 1992 and 1997 such that the major parties merged into one major opposition block, the National Alliance Party of Kenya (NAPK), under the stewardship of Mwai Kibaki who became the presidential candidate with the other major players being promised senior positions in a future opposition led government i.e. Kijana Wamalwa as vice-president and Charity Ngilu as a future prime minister (a post supposed to be created in a new constitution). Machiavellian politics continued of the most astonishing type during early and mid 2002, finally culminating into the 'Rainbow Coalition' quitting KANU to join the opposition NAPK in a new 'super alliance' known as the 'National Alliance Rainbow Coalition' (NARC). NARC was formed in late 2002 being top heavy with former KANU bigwigs turned against Uhuru Kenyatta, and the question of which leader would get which post was too difficult to be dealt with so it was postponed with only Mwai Kibaki being formally endorsed as NARC's presidential candidate. NARC was a coalition of disparate individuals and parties with various agendas, the only thing gluing them together being the attempt to pull the rug from Uhuru in order to gain power themselves, following which they would divide it up between themselves. KANU meanwhile, minus the Rainbow rebels who had resigned and defected to the opposition, endorsed Uhuru as its candidate.

 

Thus by election day, the main campaign was between KANU's Uhuru Kenyatta - a young man and political novice whose main slogan was a 'new start' under a new generation of leaders who would change the way Kenya worked - and NARC's Mwai Kibaki - an older man (71yrs) with much political experience who also promised change from the KANU ancien regime. There were also an assortment of less important political players and parties vying for power in the shadow of the great fight between KANU and NARC. The outcome was an astonishing win for the National Alliance Rainbow Coalition (NARC) whose presidential candidate, Mwai Kibaki, won more than 65% of the total vote (provisional results with official final figures still to be announced) while Uhuru Kenyatta won about 29%. NARC also swept the parliamentary elections with about 135 seats of the total 210 seats in the National Assembly (Kenya's parliament) with KANU only gaining around 60 (provisional results). This is the first time since Kenya's independence that KANU has lost either the presidential or parliamentary elections. Most Kenyans are euphoric over NARC's win, naively believing that overnight Kenya's deep-rooted and endemic problems i.e. corruption, international debt, public service debt, AIDs pandemic, collapsing infrastructure, failed public education and health services, tribalism etc will be solved by the new change reflected in NARC. The reality which few recognise in the current intoxicating euphoria is that NARC and Mwai Kibaki will not solve the existing problems because:-

 

1. All senior NARC officials were part of the KANU old guard which ran Kenya down into the deep hole within which it sinks today. For example Mwai Kibaki, the new president, served as a vice-president for nine years in Moi's single party KANU rule from 1978 until 1987 and enriched himself until he suddenly became an ardent oppositionist in 1992! The same applies to all other senior NARC leaders. The reality is that the NARC officials have committed the same heinous crimes against the masses which they used as an excuse to push people to vote for them instead of KANU, some of them (particularly the 'Rainbow Coalition') continuing to do so until just a few months ago, yet today they claim to be cleaner than Prophets!

Thus, it is not surprising that NARC has promised Moi not to pursue him in his retirement for his multiple economic and political crimes including the ethnic clashes of 1992 and 1997 which killed hundreds of innocent civilians. This is because many of those taking power participated in the same crimes and bloodied their hands and accordingly do not want them investigated, exposed or punished!

 

2. All senior NARC officials are billionaires or, at the very least multi-millionaires, despite having served virtually all their lives in the public service. These riches inevitably came from looting the public purse again and again, yet today they promise to protect the public purse. Corruption is the order of the day among all leading politicians of all parties, so the idea that these wolves will suddenly turn into wonderful shepherds overnight is nothing but naive and dangerous fancy.

 

3. NARC has committed itself to submitting to the dictates of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank: NARC has publicly and repeatedly committed itself to submitting to all IMF and World Bank conditionalities in order to resume the 'aid' and loans Kenya has been denied for several years. While the masses seem not to know better, the reality is that these conditionalities are intended to bankrupt the country and make it dependent upon foreign countries and institutions perpetually, thereby maintaining the same neo-colonialism which the masses naively are deluded to believe they are independent of. These conditions include economic liberalisation, privatisation, reducing public services and the government backing away from guaranteeing free education and health. Yet at the same time that NARC promised to submit to these inhuman conditions (which would impoverish the masses while selling the country out to foreign multinationals and fattening the pockets of a local elite) NARC's campaign promises to the masses, which led to their overwhelming victory, included guaranteeing free education and health, and poverty eradication programs! In other words, promise the masses anything to ensure victory while knowing full well that such promises will never be accomplished, following the Machiavellian principles of: "The ends justify the means" and "Might is right"!

 

4. NARC is committed to ensuring the West's continued colonialism in Kenya: NARC officials repeatedly visited western capitals together with meeting western representatives locally to confirm that Kenya will maintain its present 'pro-western' course, including supporting the US-led war against Islam under the guise of a war against terror. Kenya is a strategic country, the gateway to Eastern and Central Africa, and has always submitted to Western dictates in all important decisions. Right now, Kenya is an important staging post for western military operations--the US has important military bases in northern Kenya while patrolling in the Indian Ocean off the shores of Kenya, the German military is using Mombasa as a base of operations to monitor Somalia while the British have a 3,000 strong military force based in Nanyuki. Major western multinationals e.g. Barclays Bank, Unilever, Standard Chartered Bank, Citibank, GM, BAT etc control Kenya's economy. Kenya's vote in important multinational institutions e.g. the UN, World Bank, IMF, Unicef, and UNEP (whose headquarters are in Nairobi) ALWAYS follows western wishes. Kenya has diplomatic relations with the Jewish entity, even when it officially denied it in the past, similar to the way it maintained relations with South Africa according to western dictates even when the latter was under apartheid rule in contradiction to Kenya's official commitment under the old Organisation of African Unity (OAU) - now renamed the African Unity Organisation - to ostracise the old apartheid regime. The US embassy in Nairobi, currently being rebuilt, will be the biggest in sub-saharan Africa while Nairobi and Mombasa have become the regional intelligence centres for the major western intelligence agencies such as the CIA and MI6.

 

Kenya remains a colony in all but name, and NARC made sure they committed themselves to being slaves in order to gain power. NARC could never have won elections until they were 'vetted' by proving they would remain loyal, which is why all western countries have immediately approved the election results and promised 'to work closely with the new government' to ensure a better future i.e. to ensure Kenya remains within the West's control.

 

CONCLUSION

The recently concluded elections change nothing of essence. While the parties and individuals in power have changed, the reality remains that all senior politicians in Kenya are secular Machiavellian's who practise deceit and trickery to gain power, cheating the masses that they care for them whereas they only care for their stomachs. NARC will continue the previous regime's policy of taking care of themselves at the masses expense. Moreover, all senior politicians - whether NARC, KANU or other - know that Kenya remains a colony of the West and are committed to maintaining their submission to the West's dictates at the expense of the impoverished masses. The Kenyan political medium has committed itself, almost to the last man, to practising the corrupt ideology of the 'New World Order' i.e. multi-party democracy with economic liberalisation, knowing full well that this is a neo-colonial ideology promoted by the West for its own selfish interests. These interests ensure that the African continent - rich in natural and human resources and potential - remains colonised with all its riches being transferred into western hands via multinationals working hand in hand with the local elite. All the while, the masses remain impoverished and enslaved into the future. 'KANU has lost, long live colonialism and slavery under NARC' is the true reality of the 'change' that has taken place in Kenya. No radical change will ever take place until the masses are liberated by Islam to overthrow the existing capitalist world disorder in order to establish a just Islamic world order; everything else is a mirage even if it appears beautiful from afar!

 

Abdallah Ahmed

30th December, 2002

[Thinkerman]

Interesting as your post was saxiib, i should advice you that they (www.khilafah.com)

are not being realistic. Kenya is not a muslim countyr, although their are a large number of muslim's living there. Thery are alos abit harsh and rather simplistic in the out-look. Of course the inherent problems that exit within kenya wil take quiet some time to over haule especially corruption. But generally speaking it marks a change in hopes and aspiritions for ppl there.

[WarsameYare]

At last Mr. Kibaki has appointed his cabines and included two muslims; one from the Somali region and another from the coast. Ahmed Khalif Mohamed who is the only candidate from Narc who won a seat in the Northeast region has been apointed minister for Labour and manpower. Also Najib Balala from Mombasa has been appointed the Minister for Culture and Sport. However, compared to previous Kanu governments this is much less than what Somalis used to get from the government. A minister plus at least 3 assistant ministers were their share but it is understandable why Emilio Mwai Kibaki did not appoint assistant ministers the reason I suspect there were no Somali MPs available for any post since all of them contested and won for the Kanu ticket with the excpetion of the labour minister that left Mr. Kibaki without any other Somali on his side.

 

However, this issue of position is minor since we all know that the Somali inhabited region of Kenya is the least developed one due to successive regimes who ignored it and took their votes for granted. Though it could be argued that Mr. Kibaki might have his mind that "why should you help them while they overwhelmingly voted for Kanu?" But we hope he will look towards positive side

[mojam]

True Shujui-1,

 

I don't agree with them either on many points but the is the background information accurate? I mean when they are talking about the new party that won the elections. Is it true that they are made up of ex KANU members?

[Thinkerman]

Yeah i suppose so, but the mood shift that was all to see in the population i think will change to an expection, indeed a demand for a real change to corruption. I dont think these ex KANU minsters will be able to continue to play the old game. Well i hope they wont be. Kenya has a gr8 deal of potential, i certainly enjoyed living there and would realish returning there if the is real changes in the country.

[mojam]

Well I doubt that they will change. Once corrupted always corrupted but we can all hope for the best.

[RaMpAgE]

i agree wif mojam...corruption if the worst disase..sometimez even worser then a war..because is soo hard to fight corruption...so lets just wait n see what this new government does about corruption...so kenyan can be a better place...