Members of parliament of the opposition National Super Alliance (Nasa) have boycotted the National Assembly since August's controversial elections, bringing legislative business to a halt. But when the...
As the country simmers after its election re-run, churchmen take to diplomacy – and politicians to the street and social media
In an eloquent address to a full auditorium at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC on the morning of 9 November, Raila Odinga,...
Hopes are high that however dangerous national politics may be, regional government will reduce ethnic and economic tension
Devolving power to Kenya's 47 counties was one of the main provisions of the 2010 constitution drafted in response to the post-election violence in 2007-08. Moderate government and...
Vol 58 No 23 |
- KENYA
- TANZANIA
President John Magufuli has picked an unexpected new fight on the Kenyan border. Over 1,100 cattle seized from Maasai herders in Tanzania's Kilimanjaro and Mara regions in late...
President Uhuru Kenyatta starts his second term facing street protests, legal challenges to his election, and deep divisions in the electoral commission
Neither side in the over-heated election row looks ready to talk, let alone negotiate. Taking a shot at his opponents for representing the 'politics of darkness' and accusing...
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Nobody got what they wanted from the election re-run. Kenyatta got a weaker mandate and the opposition's tactics misfired
Surely no president can look on a 98% majority with as much dismay as President Uhuru Kenyatta. The boycott of the 26 October poll by his main rival,...
The sudden resignation of an electoral commissioner raises further doubts about the schedule for the rerun election
The sudden resignation of Roselyn Akombe, one of the eight commissioners on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), has cast fresh uncertainty over the planned Presidential re-run...
Our correspondents answer the most critical questions about the country's increasingly heated political contest
Is there a political crisis in Kenya? Would the involvement of foreign mediators help solve it?On this issue there is stark disagreement between President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition...
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The Court ruling on the election gave politicians and the IEBC no road map on how to get out of the resulting mess
When Kenya's Supreme Court voided the election of President Uhuru Kenyatta, by four to two, it became the first-ever African court to unseat a sitting president, and only...
No sitting president has ever lost an election in Kenya, but no such election has ever been annulled. What happens next will be rooted in the history of the alliances and splits in Kenya’s previous presidential polls
Founding President Jomo Kenyatta and his successor Daniel arap Moi ruled in turn from 1964 until 2002 under the umbrella of the Kenya African National Union, the party...
The political class faces a severe test of its democratic credentials following the Supreme Court's judgement on the election
Praised across Africa as a triumph of judicial independence, the Supreme Court annulling of President Uhuru Kenyatta's victory in last month's presidential election is a double-edged sword. If...
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After losing the war of words over the vote, the opposition has changed tactics and is taking its case to court
Raila Odinga's last bid for the presidency crashed days after the general elections on 8 August, leaving oppositionists facing hard choices about their political survival. Doubts about the...
Political gambles and technological questions haunt the declaration of the presidential election result
The general elections started well but went downhill fast. Early reports showed that the technology was working and that voters were enduring long queues and occasional organisational glitches...
As President Kenyatta heads for victory, the opposition claims skulduggery in the country’s high-tech election
After preliminary results had given President Uhuru Kenyatta 54.2% of votes, 1.4 million more than challenger Raila Odinga on 44.9%, in the 8 August presidential election, final results...
A horrifying assassination has set the country on edge just days before an already tense general election
It was a political killing in the country's worst tradition. Musalia Mudavadi, a joint leader of the opposition, called it 'a dagger into the heart of Kenyan democracy'...
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Two leading voter surveys disagree over the winner of the presidential election and a climate of fear is spreading
More than most electorates, Kenyans take opinion polls seriously. That might have been a bigger problem if there were a consensus among pollsters about the winner. Opinion polls...
As the parties enter the last two weeks of an increasingly tense race, accusations of rigging are multiplying
As both the governing Jubilee Party and the opposition National Super Alliance (Nasa) race into the final straight before the general elections on 8 August, both are focusing...
Joseph Nkaissery looked hale and hearty at the Labour Day rally at the tourist village Bomas of Kenya, which he attended with President Uhuru Kenyatta just hours before...
Pastoralists in cahoots with unscrupulous politicians are invading farms in the Northern Rift, using violence for political gain in the coming elections
Farm invasions led by Samburu herders targeting large farms and conservation projects have killed scores of people and chased some 10,000 people from their homes in Laikipia, according...
As it garners support, the opposition alliance insists that it cannot lose the election unless it is stolen
There is a spring in the step of the opposition National Super Alliance (Nasa) just over four weeks before the general elections. Much of Kenya's political class concedes...
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A court has barred the electoral commission in Nairobi from changing results in the constituencies
When the Appeal Court in Nairobi ruled on 23 June that the results of the presidential vote announced at the constituency level should be considered final, it changed...
Although opinion surveys are losing credibility in the West, they are still taken seriously in Kenya. We look at the risks
Should we take opinion polls seriously after their serial failures to forecast elections in the United States and the United Kingdom? This is a question of critical importance...
Vol 58 No 12 |
- KENYA
- ELECTIONS
Weak regulation is allowing data analytics companies to bring huge electoral advantages to political parties with deep pockets
There is nothing new about the controversial practice of buying data sets and gathering social media information from Facebook and Twitter to target specific electors. United States former...
The opposition is eating into Jubilee's lead while ethnic tensions are worryingly persistent despite leaders' attempt to cool them
President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Jubilee Party of Kenya can feel the breath of the serial presidential candidate, Raila Amolo Odinga, on the back of his neck. The...
Opposition and government are outbidding each other with their spending promises amid signs of electoral disillusionment
President Uhuru Kenyatta is demanding that Parliament pass a supplementary budget bill to complete the near-impossible task of 'bringing down basic food prices and cost of living' which,...
The Jubilee Party was left deeply embarrassed at having to rerun the primary elections to select parliamentary candidates in 21 of the country's 47 counties this month. Party...
Against a stream of disputes and delays, doubts are growing that the elections will be peaceful, credible or on schedule
For a candidate who is way ahead of his rivals in the opinion polls, President Uhuru Kenyatta strikes the pose of a surprisingly angry and intemperate man. On...
The opposition National Super Alliance (Nasa) electoral pact has had an early setback in its bid to win power at the August general elections. After a 30-day electoral...
Tensions could boil over when two ethnically based coalitions do battle in elections for the national and county governments
Unlike the peaceful polls that Kenya held in March 2013, the August 2017 elections will be characterised, the conventional wisdom has it, by violence at national and county...