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Published 15th March 2013

Vol 54 No 6

Kenya

The closest of shaves

Image courtesy of Panos Pictures
Image courtesy of Panos Pictures

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Prime Minister Raila Odinga is challenging Uhuru Kenyatta’s narrow win in court after a spate of technical failures at the electoral commission

Uhuru Kenyatta’s presidential victory leaves Kenya still a divided nation. He achieved it by engineering a partnership between his fellow Kikuyu and the Kalenjin of his running mate, William Ruto, in the Jubilee Alliance. Locally, the big losers are the rival candidates, Raila Odinga and Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka. Those Western countries which opposed the candidacies of Kenyatta and Ruto now face the problems of dealing with a President and Deputy who are charged with crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Credibility of the IEBC under fire

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A detailed report claiming widespread incompetence and corruption at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission may prove another blow to its standing as it seeks to defen...

A very British coup

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The Jubilee Alliance plays the conspiracy card on the old colonial power and turns up trumps

It was a warning shot from the usually emollient Charity Kaluki Ngilu when she read a statement in Nairobi on 6 March claiming that Britain’s envoy Christian Turner was plotting wi...

BLUE LINES
THE INSIDE VIEW

Take your choice: hi-tech or low-tech elections; fast or slow courts. All are on tap in Africa’s election season, which started in Ghana last December, continued in Kenya on 4 March and moving to Zimbabwe this month with a referendum on a new constitution, to be followed in mid-year by national elections.

Judicial reforms in Ghana and Kenya encourag...

Take your choice: hi-tech or low-tech elections; fast or slow courts. All are on tap in Africa’s election season, which started in Ghana last December, continued in Kenya on 4 March and moving to Zimbabwe this month with a referendum on a new constitution, to be followed in mid-year by national elections.

Judicial reforms in Ghana and Kenya encouraged politicians to trust the courts. All judges in Zimbabwe have long been appointed by President Robert Mugabe and his adherents. Yet he and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai agreed on Judge Rita Makarau to head the electoral commisson.

Ghana and Kenya experimented with technology, but failures in the biometric registration systems suggested conspiracy to some, mismanagement to others. The instant transmission of polling station results to the national tallying centre – tested in Kenya but not in Ghana – had offered a safeguard against tampering. When it failed, Raila Odinga’s supporters cried foul.

The announced losers – Odinga and, in Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo – are disputing the results. Kenya’s Supreme Court will have just two weeks to adjudicate; Ghana’s may take months. This has not tempered political mistrust or partisan rhetoric. But with these reforms, more fraudsters can be exposed and the system is becoming more accountable. However, the credibility of the vote is down to the political will of the participants. That question looms largest in Zimbabwe.

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Taking the hostage road

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Pointers

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Stay on, moi?

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'Cruel and inhumane'

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Tap dancing

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