KENYA

Reports on Ethnic Relations  /  Rapports sur les relations éthniques

The following section is consisted of part, full or summaries of articles from diverses sources (newspapers, newsletters, etc...).
La section suivante est constituée d'exraits, de la totalité ou de résumés d'articles provenant d'origines diverses (journaux,bulletins, etc..).

12 / 30 / 2002

IRIN

The Article: "Kibaki sworn in as new president"

Kenya's new president, Emilio Mwai Kibaki, was sworn into office on Monday following his historic electoral victory, and immediately pledged to go to work to revive the country's ailing economy and fight corruption.

Kibaki, the successor of Daniel arap Moi, Kenya's longest-serving president, who has ruled the country since 1978, was sworn in during a colourful ceremony following the 27 December election in which he defeated Uhuru Kenyatta, the candidate of the ruling Kenya African National Union (KANU), with a landslide majority.

Kibaki's National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) also won an outstanding 123 of the 210 seats in parliament, while KANU took 56, and the little-known Forum for the Restoration of Democracy-People took 13 seats. The parliamentary results have, however, not yet been finalised as vote counting has not been completed in some constituencies.

Thousands of Kenyans thronged Uhuru Park in the capital, Nairobi, where the ceremony took place, to witness the event in which Kibaki was installed as Kenya's third president since independence in 1963.

The multitude of people had begun arriving at the park as early as 06:00 local time to witness the inauguration in which, for the first time in the country's history, an incumbent handed over power to a democratically elected president.

The ceremony was witnessed by several African heads of state, comprising Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia, Uganda's Yoweri Museveni and Tanzania's Benjamin Mkapa, as well as South Africa's first lady, Zanele Mbeki, all of whom hailed the peaceful transition. "Kenyans have shamed those who predicted doom, and reaffirmed the dignity of all Africans," Mkapa said during the swearing-in ceremony.

In his farewell message, Moi said Kenyans had, by virtue of the peaceful transition, demonstrated to the world that Africa could chart its own destiny without interference. "We have accomplished much, we have done much together. But we have a lot more to do. The next five years must reverse the current trend," Moi said.

Kibaki's rival, Kenyatta, conceded defeat early on Sunday and described the elections as "peaceful and competitive". "I accept your choice, and in particular now concede that Mr Mwai Kibaki will be the third president of the republic of Kenya. KANU and I will respect him and his position in accordance with the constitution," Kenyatta told an international press conference on Sunday afternoon. "The country has once again demonstrated its stability and maturity, so let us now ensure it attains its rightful place in the world order," he added.

The historic transition was also hailed by local and international election observers, who described the poll as the most peaceful and fairest so far held in the country.

According to the US-based Carter Center, one of the election observation missions to Kenya, election violence on voting day was minimal, and the process of counting ballots and tabulating results was transparent. "The Carter Centre commends Kenyans for the peaceful conduct of the elections and the determination shown by election staff and voters alike on what was a very long election day," Kenneth Kaunda, former Zambian president, who headed the Carter Center's delegation, told journalists in Nairobi.

"Despite the fears of election day violence, security officials maintained a low profile and, in some cases, appeared to be too few in number to deal with the large crowds that gathered in the vicinity of some polling stations. In the end, there were few reported security problems on election day," Kaunda said.

During his inaugural speech, Kibaki, a former vice-president and economics lecturer at Uganda's Makerere University, said he would ensure that all communities were represented equally in his government, adding that he would "not let Kenyans down". He said his government would primarily focus on reviving the ailing economy and combating corruption. "We are all going to be united to fulfil these objectives. Corruption will now cease to be a way of life in Kenya. I am calling upon all of you Kenyans to help the government fight corruption, as out first priority," Kibaki said.

"This is a critical moment in the history of our country. The task ahead is enormous, challenges ahead are intimidating. I shall provide a responsive, transparent and innovative leadership. I am willing to put everything I have into the job," he added.

The new president said his government would only appoint qualified people to public offices, and appealed to the international community for support. He also pledged to restore the authority of parliament and independence of judiciary, both of which had been eroded, as part of the country's democratic process.

"We want to bring back the culture of accountability and transparency in public office. The era of anything goes is gone," Kibaki said. "I believe that government exists to serve the people, not the people who serve the government."

Kibaki also pledged to promote peace within the African region and to continue with efforts to integrate the continent. He repeated his earlier pledge to provide universal primary education, improve health services, social sector infrastructure, and to revive crumbling institutions.

Kibaki's team however, faces tough tasks ahead of mending an economy broken by years of neglect, and the challenge of meeting high expectations by Kenyans to create new jobs, include women in decision making, and improve infrastructure and social services, according to analysts.

A number of women's organisations have already hailed the new government and urged it to implement its commitment to improve women's participation in decision making. "Women in Kenya have particularly been encouraged by Narc's commitment to affirmative action and minimum of one-third rule in its appointments to the cabinet and the public and diplomatic services. This is in line with the spirit of affirmative action and is consistent with the draft constitution," a group of women leaders said in a statement.

12 / 27 / 2002

IRIN

The article: "Historic elections progressing peacefully"

As Friday saw millions of Kenyans take part in historic elections, fears of widespread violence appeared to have been largely unfounded.

The historic poll, in which a new president, new parliament and new civic representatives were to be elected went on quietly in many polling stations around the country without any major incidences of violence. In some centres, the long morning queues had vanished by midday.

A number of people who were able to vote and who were interviewed by IRIN said they had "voted for change". "We need change and its time for change," Meshack Onyango told IRIN at a polling station in Nairobi's sprawling Kibera slum area.

President Daniel arap Moi - who has ruled the country since 1978 - is due to retire after completing two five-year terms, the maximum allowed according to constitutional changes made in 1992, at the same time as multiparty politics were reintroduced to Kenya.

Early December opinion polls by various local and international institutions had indicated that Mwai Kibaki, presidential candidate for the opposition National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), was tipped to win about 68 percent of the total vote cast, followed by Uhuru Kenyatta, the candidate of the ruling Kenya African National Union and Moi's preferred successor, who was forecast to achieve 21 percent.

The fear of violence in some polling stations had reportedly deterred some people, particularly women, from turning up to exercise their democratic right. Millicent Kanini, a resident of Kibera, told IRIN that many women had been scared away by campaign violence and had opted to stay at home. "The environment has been very hostile so they have taken cover. Their votes are wasted," Kanini said.

According to Kanini, women's abstinence from the polls was likely to negatively affect their representation in decision making. "Women in this country need a change, economically, socially and through representation," Kanini said. "When all the sectors in the country fail to work, women tend to feel the effects more," she added.

The electoral process was also tarnished in some areas by claims of irregularities, which were thought to have prevented hundreds of registered electors from casting their votes.

Some frustrated voters gathered at the Nairobi offices of the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK), the body charged with supervising the elections, claiming they had been unfairly prevented from voting as a result of discrepancies between the central electoral register and the registers held at polling stations.

Many complained they had confirmed their names were listed in the central register at the ECK offices, yet they were not allowed to vote because their names did not appear on lists at their respective polling stations, even though they were in possession of valid voting cards.

Some claimed only the names of people from certain communities were omitted from the polling station registers. "If you have valid documents, why should you not be eligible to vote? We think our names were omitted on the basis of tribes," one angry voter told IRIN outside the ECK offices.

Another voter told IRIN he had travelled from a rural area to vote in Nairobi, only to be told that his identity card number had been listed under someone else's name, and he had therefore been prevented from voting.

Raila Odinga, a leading member of NARC told IRIN he had filed a letter of complaint with the electoral commission chairman over the issue.

"There were consultations between the parties and the ECK and it was agreed that the 2002 poll register should be used. At the time, the commission did not disclose the extent of errors in the register," Odinga told IRIN.

According to Odinga, the extent of errors in the poll register was "too large" and could be a "deliberate" effort to rig elections. If not corrected, Odinga added, the irregularities could lead to the disenfranchisement of some voters. "These were not computer errors but artificially introduced errors to bar some people from voting," Odinga claimed.

"Basically what they are telling us is that they are so inefficient that, just to transfer names from one register to another, they insert errors of up to 20 percent," Odinga added.

No immediate comment was available from ECK officials.

12 / 17 / 2002

IRIN

The article: "Minister's court victory on ethnic clashes questioned"

A recent court ruling ordering the removal of powerful cabinet minister Nicholas Biwott's name from a list of those implicated in ethnic clashes which rocked the country between 1992 and 1997 has raised questions regarding the independence of Kenya's judicial system, according to local analysts.

Biwott, who is the trade and industry minister, had in November gone to court to seek the removal of his name from a judicial commission report, in which he was adversely mentioned in the clashes in the Coast and Rift Valley provinces which left more than 2,000 people dead and thousands of families homeless.

The judicial commission, named after its chairman Judge Akilano Akiwumi, was set up in 1997 to investigate the clashes, but its report was not made public until October 2002, following intense pressure from the human rights fraternity.

The report had recommended that 85 people, mostly prominent politicians, including Biwott, should be investigated for their alleged roles in the violence. Last week, however, the High Court said the commission had acted "against the natural rules of justice" by failing to call Biwott as a witness during its investigations.

Biwott said he was "delighted that the truth has finally come out".

"The truth must always prevail," he told IRIN. "If you are innocent, the truth will come out always. I have relied on the truth, the law and God. I am delighted that the truth eventually has come out."

This was the fourth successive court victory for Biwott in the past two years. In 2000, the minister won a US $126,000 libel award against two Kenyan bookshops which sold Dr Ian West's "Casebook" - an account of the 1990 murder of Kenya's former foreign minister Robert Ouko in which Biwott was implicated. Dr. West, the author of the book, is a British pathologist who was involved in the investigations.

In March this year, Biwott also won another US $252,000 from the publisher of the independent 'People Daily' newspaper over an article linking him to a controversial hydro-power project in the Rift Valley province. Another Kenyan bookshop, Text Book Centre, was in June ordered to pay Biwott another US $94,600 for distributing the "Rogue Ambassador", a book by former US ambassador Smith Hempstone, in which Biwott was implicated in the Ouko murder.

"I am a principled man who believes in justice," Biwott told IRIN. "If I make a mistake, I expect to be dealt with like anyone else. If you want to know where my strength lies, it is because of my belief in the rule of law."

However, Haroun Ndubi, who runs the Kituo cha Sheria [Kiswahili for legal centre], said it was wrong for the court to expunge Biwott's name from the report, especially after the judicial commission had been disbanded.

Ndubi told IRIN that Biwott's successive court cases in the past two years were an indication that the minister was seeking to "sanitise" his name before the next government comes into power in January, after the 27 December general elections.