Fires of protest greet Kenya’s president second term
December 31, 2007 (NAIROBI) — Shanty-towns blazed, ethnic gangs fought and the opposition planned protests as President Mwai Kibaki began a second term in office on Monday after a disputed election that has convulsed Kenya.
The gentlemanly Kibaki, 76, showed a steely core by swearing himself in within an hour of being pronounced victor in an election denounced as fraudulent by opposition challenger Raila Odinga and questioned by international and Kenyan observers.
Odinga’s supporters said he would be declared president at a rival ceremony on Monday, but police banned the event.
“This is the saddest day in the history of democracy in this country. It is a coup d’etat,” said Koki Muli, head of respected local watchdog, the Institute of Education in Democracy.
Kibaki now faces the momentous task of reuniting a country split pretty much down the middle by an election that has brought several dozen deaths, first during campaign rallies and then in an explosion of violence over the results.
The turmoil threatens to deter investors from east Africa’s largest economy and damage Kenya’s reputation as an oasis of relative stability in a volatile and war-scarred region.
“With the elections behind us now … I urge all of us to set aside the passions that were excited by the election process,” Kibaki pleaded.
Jubilant supporters danced in the streets and burned tyres in celebration in his highland hometown of Othaya — a sharp contrast to the angry fires in his rival’s strongholds.
“We have been blessed!” said 60-year-old teacher Kiruki Wanjima in Nyamari village where Kibaki has a tea farm.
And while Britain and the European Union expressed concerns, Washington sent its congratulations to Kibaki.
Few expect the situation to calm quickly.
“We are in for a period of violence and turbulence, without doubt,” said Nairobi-based businessman and analyst Robert Shaw.
So controversial was the final result that the head of the electoral board, Samuel Kivuitu, had to abandon his public announcement, escorted by military police, after the podium was stormed by heckling opposition supporters.
Within the hour, he was joking at Kibaki’s side during a swearing-in on the lawn of Nairobi’s State House.
“NO PEACE”
From there, smoke could be seen rising from protests in the Mathare, Kibera and Kawangware slums, where pro-opposition ethnic Luos and Luhyas went on the rampage in fury at what they perceived to be a stolen election.
About a dozen people died during the day, witnesses and reporters said, as rioting spread across the country, particularly in the western town of Kisumu, which is in the opposition heartland of Nyanza province.
Having led every opinion poll bar one since September, then taken a strong lead in early results, the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) was dismayed to see Kibaki pip it right towards the end of the tally.
Kibaki took 4.58 million votes to Odinga’s 4.35 million — but the results were marred by accusations from both sides of multiple voting, disappeared returning officers and “doctoring”.
Opposition supporters saw the result as a plot by Kibaki’s Kikuyu tribe, Kenya’s largest, to keep power by any means.
ODM leader and presidential candidate Odinga, hoping to fulfil the dream that eluded his father — nationalist hero Jaramogi Oginga Odinga — wiped tears away at a post-results news conference. But his party had a defiant message.
“We are inviting Kenyans to Uhuru Park, Monday the 31st of December, 2007, at 2 p.m., for the presentation to the nation of the People’s President, elected Honourable Raila Amolo Odinga,” it said in a statement.
But police issued a statement saying such a gathering, in a Nairobi park named for ‘Freedom’ in Swahili, would be illegal and anyone seeking to attend would “face the full force of the law”. Truckloads of paramilitary police patrolled the streets.
“It is laughable,” Ngari Gituku, spokesman for Kibaki’s Party of National Unity (PNU), told Reuters of ODM’s plan.
“Odinga is trampling on democracy and has exposed himself for what he really is. We have a whole nation to protect from one nefarious individual.”
As night fell, sketchy reports came from across Kenya of vicious attacks on Kikuyus. But with local TV stations banned from broadcasting live, and most journalists staying indoors to keep safe, it was hard to assess the extent of the violence.
In Nairobi’s pro-opposition Kibera slum — one of Africa’s largest — police fired teargas and shot into the air to disperse crowds during the night.
“They have cut all the electricity and families are out of their houses as teargas is everywhere,” said resident Joshua Odutu. “There is no peace without Raila.”
(Reuters)