Kenya’s new President Uhuru Kenyatta on a military land rover acknowledges greetings from supporters after he was sworn in at the Moi International Sports Centre on Apr. 9. Credit: Brian Ngugi/IPS

By Brian Ngugi

NAIROBI, Apr 16 2013 (IPS) – Kenya’s newly sworn-in President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta may be faced with a number of challenges, including an impending International Criminal Court case and a slow economy. But he must also tackle corruption and ethnic divisions as he embarks on his five-year term as head of state of East Africa’s largest economy.

This is according to newly-elected senator Bonny Khalwale, from Kakamega county in western Kenya.

Khalwale, who is a prominent anti-corruption crusader, told IPS: “What divides this country is not our tribes, it is the unequal distribution of resources, which has ensured that a section of tribes feel alienated.”
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Al Jazeera

President-elect Kenyatta calls for unity after supporters of rival candidate protest court decision that upheld his win.

Supporters of Raila Odinga, the runner-up in the just concluded Kenya presidential elections, have protested against a decision by the country’s highest court that dismissed an opposition petition challenging Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory.

Clashes immediately erupted on Saturday between youths and the police in Kisumu, the biggest town in Odinga’s western region stronghold, leaving at least two people dead.

The protesters were initially dispersed by the police but they then reassembled later in the evening to hurl stones at cars and motorbikes, injuring several people.
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Deputy PM Uhuru Kenyatta declared poll winner with 50.07 percent of vote, as rival Odinga says he will contest result.
Uhuru Kenyatta , Kenya’s deputy prime minister, has won the country’s presidential election with 50.07 percent of the vote, official results show, just enough to avoid a runoff.
The country’s electoral commission said voter turnout in the election was 88 percent.
Following the announcement on Saturday, Raila Odinga , outgoing prime minister, who came second in the election, said he would contest the result.
Odinga’s camp had said during tallying that the ballot count was deeply flawed and had called for it to be halted.
Speaking in the Kenyan capital on Saturday, Odinga said “rampant illegality” across the entire election process has led him to seek a Supreme Court investigation into polling procedures. Continue reading →

Uhuru Kenyatta rallying in one of his strongholds in Nyeri County, Central Kenya before the elections. Credit:Miriam Gathigah/IPS

NAIROBI, Mar 10 2013 (IPS) – Kenyans may have elected as president a man wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, but political analysts here say that Uhuru Kenyatta’s presidency will not have significant implications for the country’s international standing just yet.

“World leaders will work to follow their interests. In politics, interests override all else and Kenya is too significant an East African nation to be ignored. It’s the big brother of East African nations in every aspect,” James Mwai, a political analyst, told IPS. Continue reading →

Odinga supporters are disbelieving at the election result as they demonstrate in Nairobi

New Internationalist

By Henry Owino

Kenya has finally redeemed its image from the tarnishing it experienced during the 2007 post-general election violence. Kenyans have largely accepted the results of the latest poll on 4 March and maintained the peace, regardless of which side of the party political divide they stand on.

The losers remained peaceful, as winners celebrated their victory in colorful pomp. Supporters of winning presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta roused fellow Kenyans from their sleep at 1am on Saturday morning with blaring sounds of vuvuzelas (plastic blow horns) and whistles. People young and old, men and women, celebrated with dance and songs. Continue reading →

Supporters of Raila Odinga gather to support the defeated candidate’s move to petition the Supreme Court [EPA]

Police fire teargas at supporters as the defeated presidential contender files legal objection to election results.

Kenya’s defeated presidential contender Raila Odinga has filed a challenge to his election defeat, as police fired teargas to disperse his supporters who had gathered in front of the Supreme Court where the decision will be made.

Lawyers for Odinga, who is Kenya’s prime minister, called their petition before the Supreme Court on Saturday a “legitimate legal process” that ensures the will of the people is respected.

Odinga refuses to accept the slim first-round win by his opponent Uhuru Kenyatta, alleging collusion between the president-elect and the electoral commission.
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Al Jazeera

Widespread technical failure and thousands of spoiled ballots prompt complaints of voting irregularities.

Ballot counting from this week’s Kenyan general and presidential elections has been facing delays due to technical glitches in an electronic counting system, causing growing frustration over the slow pace of the count.

The country’s electoral commission (IBEC) had hoped official results would come on Wednesday, but now plans to finish vote counting by late Thursday and release the results on Friday.

Instead of relying upon electronic transmission of data, electoral officials were bringing ballots from around the country to be counted manually at the main tallying centre in Nairobi on Wednesday.

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Al Zazeera

About 100,000 police deployed to prevent repeat of post-election violence that left more than 1,200 people dead in 2007.

Groups of hundreds have queued throughout Kenya to vote in the first elections since deadly ethnic violence that killed more than 1,200 people following disputed polls in 2007.

Voters have waited for more than six hours at a time to cast ballots for a president, senators, members of parliament, county governors and representatives to the newly formed county assembly.

Festus Mogae, former president of Botswana who is leading the team of observers for the election, said he is so far “impressed” by the number of people turning out to vote. Continue reading →

Daily Nation

In makeshift camps on windswept barren land more than 100 families, chased from their homes in the wave of violence and killing that followed the disputed 2007 polls, are still waiting to be re-settled.

In the run up to the next elections on March 4, these still displaced people camping around the town of Nakuru in Kenya’s Rift Valley fear renewed violence once more. Continue reading →