By tomorrow they should have the results, hopefully.

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Sande Wycliffe

In 2007, things began to go wrong because the end result came late: the counting of electoral ended three days after the vote. And not only that.

2007 Kenya Elections, BBC

2007 Kenya Elections, BBC

What triggered off the first violence was an act that shocked the population completely. In the afternoon of the third day electricity went off across the country for about an hour and when it came back, Mwai Kibaki, who was a little bit behind in the total votes counted compared to his rival Raila Odinga, had toppled Raila with votes, hence the riots that broke out first in the slums of the capital, and then spread in the city and finally in the villages.

 

However, under the new constitution, this elections will elect the president, senators, members of parliament, county governors who will be presidents of 47 county governments, women representatives, county representatives in office

Yesterday, Monday, March 4th, news about the killing of nine police officers during the previous night arrived in Nairobi early morning, from Mombasa at the hands of a terrorist group armed with a machete.

The attacks continued in different area of ​​the coastal town, killing ten members of the police commandos and three residents in Kilifi and Kwale, in ​​Mombasa’s area.

Odinga and Kenyatta

Odinga and Kenyatta

Now the situation seems calm, but contingent troops of the Kenya Defence Forces have been placed throughout the coastal area to provide security to the residents. From Nairobi came a reinforcement of 400 police officers, with orders to shoot any person attempting to launch an attack to the police or civilians.

As the Daily Nation said, the attacks have been attributed to Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), a group that opposes the election and claims from time to secede the region.

Yesterday afternoon, around 6pm only two of eight presidential candidates have achieved something important: Uhuru Kenyatta was 56.9% and 40.7%, Raila Odinga.

At the moment Uhuru Kenyatta, accused of crimes against humanity for instigating the violence during the last election,  is still ahead of Odinga, with 54% of the vote compared to 42% of his opponent, but people are already celebrating the streets.

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Elections after math in Kibera

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Douglas Namale
Toi market today morning

Toi market today morning

Day two after elections in Kibera has reported different reactions, from less supply of food stuff, slow public transport to anxiety caused by prolonged transmission of presidential results.

A spot check at Toi Market indicated no activity to the usual busy market which serves the western parts of the city. The stalls were empty, a few customers walked helplessly in the market but there was no commodity to buy. This led to price hikes on available food commodities.  “The vegetables I buy KSh. 5 are now 20.” Said Diana Mueni, a Karanja resident.

Public transport was equally affect. In the morning, very few public transport vehicles were operating, though they did not hike bus fares. Many residents are seen walking to work.

In some western parts of Kibera, residents are in low spirits. They claimed IEBC results are trickling in slowly causing uncertainty.  A 34 year old man in Olympic was quoted saying “I feel my blood sugar level rising.” When our reporter asked what caused the blood sugar to rise?  He responded “my preferred presidential candidate is not doing well as results trickle in.”

Busy market day at toi market

Busy market day at Toi market

Young people are seen in small groups discussing the possible outcome of the presidential results. Tension is all over due to the ongoing vote counting.  Most roads are empty because a majority are watching the results from their television sets indoors. The police chopper is seen patrolling Kibera skies after about two hours intervals to ensure everything is in order.

But our interaction with residents from different parts in Kibera indicates, they have decided to accept whoever wins elections.

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KIBRA: Women voters miss in IEBC’s manual register

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Douglas Namale

Women voters were turned away this morning without voting in Langatta and Kibra constituencies because their names are missing in the IEBC’s manual register.

The confused elderly woman after being turned away by IEBC officials because she had the old generation ID.

The confused elderly woman after being turned away by IEBC officials because she had the old generation ID.

Between 6:00am and 8:00am, more than twenty women had already been turned away without   voting at the District Commissioner’s grounds polling station alone. Among those whose names missed in the manual register was Map Kibera Trust SMS reporter Mildred Anekeya. She complained and persisted for more than 7 hours, later her name was found in the BVR register and she was allowed to vote at 12:02pm.

An elderly woman was turned away at the DC’s grounds polling station because she had the old generation ID. Women carrying babies on their backs were also turned away in many polling stations particularly in Sarangombe and Makina wards where the manual register was used.

At Mashimoni primary, a woman delivered on the queue. She was rushed to Freepals Maternity Health Centre for help. Another pregnant woman collapsed after queuing for more than two hours at KAG Olympic station. Medics from MSF Belgium attended to her and she was later allowed to vote and go home.

some of the disgruntled women at KAG Olympic after two hour queue

some of the disgruntled women at KAG Olympic after two hour queue

At Old Kibera primary, 50 people were turned away because of the same problem.

BVR kits failed to operate in Olympic, YMCA, Ayany, KAG Olympic, Old Kibera primary, DC’s grounds, Soweto Resource Centre among other polling stations, forcing the polling officials to use the manual register.

Electricity fluctuations in most polling stations were the main reason for the failure, though in some instances, the system was very slow, forcing IEBC officials resort for the manual register to speed up the exercise.

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KIBRA: Women voters miss in IEBC’s manual register

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Douglas Namale

Women voters were turned away this morning without voting in Langatta and Kibra constituencies because their names are missing in the IEBC’s manual register.

Lack of Electricity at Raila Educational Centre led to the officers use a kerosene lantern.

Lack of Electricity at Raila Educational Centre led to the officers use a kerosene lantern.

Between 6:00am and 8:00am, more than twenty women had already been turned away without   voting at the District Commissioner’s grounds polling station alone. Among those who had were turned away was Map Kibera Trust SMS reporter Mildred Anekeya, whose name missed in the manual register. She complained and persisted for more than 7 hours, later her name was found in the BVR register and she was allowed to vote at 12:02pm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDHVgrNX668&feature=share&list=UUpVAWZnOfKm5DqH-fFcIOiA

The same was experience at YMCA polling station.

BVR kits failed to operate in most polling stations, forcing IEBC officials to use the manual register.

BVR kits failed to operate at OLYMPIC, YMCA, Ayany, KAG Olympic, DC’s grounds, Soweto Resource Centre among other polling stations, forcing the polling officials to use the manual register.

The BVR kits failure to work well slowed down the pace of the voting exercise, leading to many voters’ frustration and complaints.

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Everything didn’t work as expected in Kibera

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Sande Wycliffe
Long queues in Kibera

Long queues in Kibera

To ensure the security at polling stations, the IECB staff at Holy Trinity worked extra hard this morning to organize the larger number of voters into their respective streams in order to ease the voting process.

At Mashimoni primary polling station, the voting exercise started well, long queues observed starting 5.00am but voting started 6.05am.

But not everything worked in the right way.

The traffic at Olympic this morning was enormous: twelve long lines all of which have stretched outside the gate with thousands of voters already queuing to vote. “We have to vote by all means, this will ensure that we get in the credible leaders we have always wanted to elect”, a voter said.

The was caused by BVR machine that stopped working at Olympic station leading to slow pace of voting hence complains from the public who are all in eight streams waiting to vote.

In YMCA polling station four people have not got their names in the voters register and the BVR kit system was not working as it was supposed to be.

At Dc grounds polling station, voters are being pulled out of the line simply because their names were not in the registers but available in the IEBC system.

At Olympic Secondary School, there was a huge number of voters and among the crowd one of the voters threw his documents and went away simply because he couldn’t find his name in one of the lines he had been since morning.

 

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Fire disrupts voting at Nyayo High-rise, Langatta

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Douglas Namale

This morning fire disrupted voting exercise at Soweto Resource Centre and Undugu Society polling stations in Nyayo High-rise ward, Langatta constituency.

Part of the fire at the border between Silanga and Soweto East

Part of the fire at the border between Silanga and Soweto East

The fire which started at around 9.30am has gutted about 30 houses at the border between Soweto east and Silanga. Property of unknown value has been destroyed.

Residents left the long queues and rushed to rescue their properties. One of the residents identified as Kamau, said he could not continue queuing when he is not sure he will spent the night after his house was destroyed by the morning fire.   “I can’t vote when am not sure whether this people will remember us. Wacha niokoe mali yangu. Let me save my property.” Said Kamau.

No casualties have been reported. The cause of the fire is yet to be identified.

Police helicopter was seen flying above the scene, several times, though there were no firefighters present. Residents managed to put off the fire after about 35 minutes and voting exercise continued without further interruption.

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Polling stations in Kibera: the arrival of Raila Odinga

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Sande Wycliffe

Large group of people are singing and chanting at kamkunji ground Gatwekera this morning at 6am, waiting to vote and go home. “Some of them are running around making noise to wake up other people to join them”, a MapKibera reporter said.

Arrival of Raila Odinga in Kibera

Arrival of Raila Odinga in Kibera

The crowd began at 4 am and the voters claimed that the process take too long. “Why is this process slow? I hope there is something they can do to hasten the process for us so we can vote peacefully and go home”, said a voter at A.C.K Polling station.

During this time, some facts attracted the attention of voters in the queues: a drank lady with jokes and songs at Ayani primary polling station in Kibera, creating a platform of debate with people wondering how she will be able to vote in this situation.

But the most important event of this morning in Kibera was the arrival of The Cords’ Presidential candidate Hon Raila Odinga, at exactly 9 am. The Premier arrived to cast his vote, only waving to acknowledge the mighty multitude of Kibra voters whom equally had turned up to vote.

The premier, who has represented Kibra/Langata constituency for twenty years is this time locked in a presidential contest pitting him against eight other contestants, with a close race projected between himself and Deputy premier Mr.Uhuru Kenyatta.

Addressing the press, Mr.Odinga said the people of Kenya value democracy, rule of law  and can be attested by the large turn out reported here and elsewhere.
He said his Coalition for Reforms and Democracy(CORD) represent the aspirations and the desire for real change in the country and he is confident of a win in first of vote.

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The Third Runner In The Election 2013

Posted on March 3, 2013 by George Waweru

If Kenya election were to be held today neither Raila nor Uhuru would win; that is if Kenya democracy is really of age. Over the past years politics has been associated with a lot of negative energy and ethnicity mainly from the public and communities of the running candidates. It is no secret by now that 2007 election were the most denting in our times and it will forever be remembered vividly in our minds, that was the time Kenya as a nation lost over 1300 citizens in inter ethnic clashes and over 600 000 kenyans were displaced from their original homes to IDP (internal displaced people) camps.

This year though it is a different story with women, youths, young and the elderly all geared up and psyched up about the election. Again as it is in Kenya history it is a ‘’two horse affair” paving Raila Odinga of Cord and Uhuru Kenyatta of Jubilee coalition, the thing that many Kenyans may have overlooked is the third runner in this election to whom many have campaigned for, have advocated, for and even prayed for; “PEACE” he is a ghost contender in this race to the general election.

We have had from the Kenyan president, religious leaders, teachers union, NGOs to even young and school going children all advocating for the same message vote in peace and no matter what the result will be Kenya is ready to accept and move on for we have life after the 4th.

With all the effort put in place to make sure Kenya get a free fair safe and peaceful election I think I can now use this platform in confident to tell the whole world, what we all saw in some of the main stream media houses claiming that some part of Kenya is preparing for war after election is all but baseless information with no grain of truth in it, I personally am blogging from the hottest spot of violence in Kenya and the mood at the ground is peaceful with no form of hate speech or conflict arising.

So with that short a due I hereby present to you the winner of Kenya general election 2013 “PEACE”.

 

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Security Measures Surprise Many in Kibera

Posted on March 1, 2013 by George Waweru

It is correct to regard Kibera as one of the safest places on earth, with the number of police officers seen patrolling the streets, you could have thought there was a riot or the president was visiting. There was a contingent of over twenty armed police officer patrolling over Kamkunji slum and over fifty officers patrolling Olympic area and stage. This were only the uniformed police, who an ordinary civilian like me could spot, but as far as the security of the independent Inspector General of Kenya police Mr. David Kimaiyo is concern we suspect amongst us there were also plain cloths officers.

george blog

The chief camp of Olympic is always the idling spot of some of the remnant of the illegal group siafu that for the past years has been collecting enforced taxes on business owners and even community members who were found repairing their homes. In literal terms it is correct to say this group own most of the activities in and around Kibera. But today it was a different story even they themselves were nowhere to be seen, the street was swept clean of any idlers, only passerby were allowed on the street.

That was only before Mr. Kimaiyo himself arrived, his arrival sent a shock wave of excitement over Olympic for an entourage of over thirty Mercedes Benz and three Land Rovers all full with police from all department came in and put all activities at a standstill for even the public service vehicles were forced to pack away from the road. There were the General Service unit (GSU), the CID, the Kenya Police and some other department that even I could not tell from the way the cars were been driven. This was part of the security measures that were set up for the arrival of Kimaiyo; the sole aim of the visit was to warn the resident of Kibera over any form of violence during and after election.

This was an encouraging move from the general, for it made common mwananchi like me assured of my security considering Kibera has been over the past election a hot spot and starting point of all the country wide mass action and demonstration. This move has proven that the 99 000 police officers sent to monitor election are ready to stop any form of irregularities and violence over this period. We are glad to see Kenya take a step to the right direction in term of civilian security during and after the election.

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IS KENYA READY FOR A RUN OFF?

Posted on February 28, 2013 by George Waweru

One may argue that Kenya is prepared for a run off in the election. Financially? Yes, I think the IEBC may or can handle the do over of the election, but this is the question is Kenya as a nation ready for this?

It is only days away to the election and report released by the KNHRC commission shows that business are closing down or reducing their stocks to avoid losses that come with political violence, this is a threat to the national economy. We risk another recession in the near feature considering the tension and anxiety that comes with election, this has resulted to a massive exodus of people from the places they live to their rural home where they feel safe in the comfort of their tribes men. There are all indication of citizens not contended with their national security or with the national healing and reconciliation process. With 95% of our economy financed by Kenyans this posses a real threat to our country GDP growing rate which with every election year has been dropping . This post a great threat to the common Mwananchi who in case of a runoff has to again live in tension for the next 30 days, with fears of the unknown with a staggering economy where the labor output is almost running at zero % due to the national working days being reduced to pave way for the election and to give people a chance to vote. All we as a nation can hope for or pray for are peaceful election. Who ever win the election will be my president because am a Kenyan. MAY GOD BLESS KENYA.

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