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Tag: Kenya

  • Electoral absurdity made in Kenya

    It’s uhuru as King Kenyatta II just won a crushing victory of 98 per cent, in Kenya’s gift to the world in monarchical democracy!  It’s all in the making of Kenya bathetic high drama it called an election re-run.

    Of course, there is nothing, on the face of it, like monarchical democracy — for democracy is term-limited (even when subject to renewal) and monarchy is carte blanche for life.  Yet, in Kenya’s skewed politics, you could somewhat see a graft of the two in full Technicolor!

    Take the two current dramatic personae, Hardball would for now call Kenyatta II and Odinga II.  Both are Olympians (if you must borrow from Greek mythology) that have succeeded their Titan forebears, but without the Olympian panache.

    Jomo Kenyatta (Kenyatta I) was Kenya’s prime minister — later president — at independence.  His great rival was Jaramogi Oginga Odinga (Odinga I).  Kenyatta I held the sceptre.  Odinga I held the opposition club, with which however he could not clubber Kenyatta I at the polls and seize his democratic(?) sceptre.

    That age passed away.  Kenyatta I died holding away over a one-party state.  Crown Prince Daniel arap Moi reigned in his stead.  Needless to say, the opposition bastion was crushed, with Odinga losing his club.  Nevertheless, he died with head unbowed.  King Moi was to live happily ever after — until some Air Force boys shattered his bliss in a shocking coup attempt.

    Welcome then, Kenya’s so-called multi-party democracy and elections.  Irony of ironies: Mwai Kibaki, chief beneficiary of that new phase, would claim victory for second term, in an election which tally the Kenya prime electoral chief could not vouch for!

    Well, Odinga II, son of  Odinga I, is now roughing it up with Kenyatta II, son of Kenyatta I and old nemesis; passing victor and nemesis into the second generation, in the midst of consistently sickening politics!

    That is the rich background to this latest Kenyan rot.  En route to the present mess, the Kenya judiciary had chalked a fine one for prompt justice and stout judicial independence by, without much ado, cancelling Uhuru Kenyatta’s purported victory, and ordering a re-run.

    But the re-run has ended in even more absurdity — 98 per cent win, followed by outright rage.  Only in Africa!

    But what’s Hardball’s point — to gloat over Kenya’s misfortune, borne out of arrested democratic development?  Of course not!

    It is to remind the romantics that feel and scream Nigeria’s salvation is in embracing the 1963 Constitution and changing to the parliamentary system.  That could well be.

    But the big exception: despite all the nostalgia, made somewhat credible by the arrant mess of the military era, the 1963 Constitution failed — or more correctly, its operators failed it, and everyone.  That explained the messianic entry of the military, and the dashed hope of that best forgotten era.

    Many, getting wise after the fact, now claim Nigeria would have been better off, had the military not intervened.  Maybe.  Maybe not.

    But want to see how Nigeria would have lumbered on, with the reactionary mindset of those who back then controlled federal power?  Look no further than Kenya’s Kenyatta legacy of stunted democracy and its current mess.

    Blessed are those painfully aware of their weaknesses, for they would escape the Kenyan grand illusion.  Ninety-eight per cent victory margin, my foot!

     

     

  • Kenya presidential election re-run turnout below 35% – Commission

    Kenya presidential election re-run turnout below 35% – Commission

    Results of the presidential election re-run of Kenya started to trickle in on Friday, with early estimates of the turnout at below 35 per cent.

    With nearly all followers of opposition leader Raila Odinga heeding the veteran’s call for a boycott, Kenyatta’s victory is not in question.

    The first election, in August, was annulled by the courts because of procedural irregularities, denying Kenyatta a simple victory over his long-term political rival.

    Voting on Thursday was marred by skirmishes between police and stone-throwing opposition supporters, who prevented polling stations from opening in four pro-Odinga counties, forcing election officials to postpone the exercise by 48 hours.

    The Kenyan Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission ( IEBC ) said more than one in 10 polling stations failed to open.

    IEBC chairman, Wafula Chebukati, Tweeted overnight that 6.55 million ballots had been cast – just 34.5 per cent of registered voters.

    By contrast, turnout in the August election was 80 per cent.

    The outcome is being closely watched across East Africa, which relies on Kenya as a trade and logistics hub, and in the West, which considers Nairobi a bulwark against Islamist militancy in Somalia and conflict in South  Sudan and Burundi.

    In the western city of Kisumu, police used tear gas and fired live rounds over the heads of stone-throwing youths.

    A nurse said gunfire killed one protester and wounded three.

    In Homa Bay county next door, police said they shot dead one protester and injured another.

    There were similar scenes in Kibera and Mathare, two volatile Nairobi slums.

    At least one person was shot in the leg, a Red Cross official said, and a church was fire-bombed.

    Around 50 people have been killed, mostly by security forces, since the original Aug. 8 vote, raising fears of sustained violence only a decade after 1,200 people were killed in serious ethnic fighting triggered by another disputed vote.

    Legal challenges to the re-run are expected. If they fail to provide a clear path out of the crisis, including an order for another re-run, many Kenyans are fearing protracted political stalemate between the Uhuru Kenyatta and Odinga camps.

    “Unless the courts annul the election, Kenyatta will move forward without a clear mandate and Odinga will pursue a protest strategy whose chances of success in the circumstances are not very high,” said International Crisis Group analyst Murithi Mutiga.

    NAN

  • Coca-Cola to invest $90m in Kenya to broaden product range

    Coca-Cola to invest $90m in Kenya to broaden product range

    Soft drinks maker, Coca-Cola, says it plans to invest up to $90 million in Kenya over three years through 2018 to increase its product range in the region.

    In a statement on Tuesday in Nairobi, the company said the wider range of soft drinks in the country would begin in 2018 but did not give details of the range of products

    Coca-Cola, which is the leader in the Kenyan soda market with brands like Coke and Fanta, said it had invested a total of $17 billion in Africa since 2014.

    According to the company, the amount doubles what was invested in the continent a decade before.

    The group, however, faces growing competition in Kenya from other soft drinks producers like SABmiller and PepsiCo.

    NAN

  • Kenya election board CEO rejected by opposition goes on leave

    Kenya election board CEO rejected by opposition goes on leave

    Kenyan Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC)  said on Friday he was taking three weeks of leave ahead of the election.

    Opposition demanded that Chiloba must be fired before a repeat presidential election scheduled for Oct. 26,

    The first presidential vote in August, which gave victory to Kenyatta, was annulled because of procedural irregularities.

    Chiloba said he had taken a personal decision to take leave in light of the opposition’s demands, without giving more details.

    He said all arrangements were in place for the election, as ordered by the Supreme Court.

    “This is the first time I‘m taking leave since my son was born. He turns two years (old) in two weeks’ time,” he told Reuters.

    The court annulled the first election, held in August and in which incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta was declared winner, over procedural irregularities.

    Read: Kenya Forfeits AFCON Hosting Right, CAF Shops for New Country

    The opposition, led by Raila Odinga, has said it will boycott the re-run unless several demands, including the sacking of Chiloba, are met.

    Odinga met the chairman of the IEBC board, Wafula Chebukati, on Thursday and later told reporters that if there were serious consultations and serious reforms, the opposition could review its boycott.

    The board has said the election will go ahead and Kenyatta, has insisted the vote must be held.

    On Thursday, the president snubbed an invitation to meet Chebukati, saying he would instead spend the time campaigning. (Reuters/NAN)

  • Presidential poll:Top Kenyan election official resigns, flees country

    Presidential poll:Top Kenyan election official resigns, flees country

    An election board commissioner in Kenya has resigned and fled the country a week before a re-run of the presidential vote, citing political intimidation and saying the election would be a “mockery” of democracy.

    The resignation of Roselyn Akombe, one of seven election board commissioners, is likely to be seized upon by the opposition to bolster its claim that the Oct. 26 poll will not be fair.

    The re-run was ordered by the Supreme Court on Sept. 1 after it nullified the Aug. 8 re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta, following a petition by opposition leader Raila Odinga.

    Odinga withdrew from the repeat poll last week, saying the board had not carried out reforms demanded by the opposition.

    His move thrust the country, a key Western ally and also the richest economy in the region, deeper into political uncertainty.

    The board has said the poll will go ahead with seven candidates on the ballot, including Odinga.

    Akombe, a member of the board’s top panel, cited severe partisan political divisions among its eight members and the secretariat for her decision to leave.

    “The commission has become a party to the current crisis. The commission is under siege,” she said in a statement issued from New York and dated Tuesday.

    She told BBC radio she had fled from Kenya to New York after receiving numerous threats but did not identify who was threatening her.

    The upcoming election would not be credible, she added.

    “We need the commission to be courageous and speak out that this election as planned cannot meet the basic expectations of a credible exerrcise.”

    Kenyan law requires the repeat election to be held within 60 days of nullification of the original vote.

    Odinga has called daily demonstrations to protest against the electoral body.

    At least four people have been killed during protests following the court ruling.

    Kenyatta has accused Odinga of pulling out of the race after sensing defeat and trying to cause chaos to force a power-sharing deal, something the opposition strongly denies.

    No fewer than 1,200 people were killed in violence after a disputed presidential election in Dec. 2007.(Reuters/NAN)

  • Kenya’s deputy president okays demands made by opposition

    Kenya’s deputy president okays demands made by opposition

    Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto said on Tuesday there would be no problem if the election board agrees to meet demands made by the opposition ahead of a repeat presidential vote on Oct. 26.

    The Supreme Court annulled an Aug. 8 vote at the start of September after opposition leader Raila Odinga challenged the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta.

    Odinga has withdrawn from the repeat poll, saying the election board had failed to meet a list of conditions his coalition said would guarantee fairness.

    He has called for daily protests to force the reforms.

    “If they (the election board) chose to have a discussion with our competitors with a view to firing this member of staff or firing that member of that staff or changing a supplier … so long as the elections are there, we will participate,” Ruto told reporters.

    Under the constitution, the repeat election must be held within 60 days of the Sept. 1 invalidation.

    Read:Kenya’s example

    The election board says it will to go ahead with the vote but Odinga’s withdrawal has caused concerns of a political crisis.

    Ruto accused Odinga of trying to spark chaos through the protests in order to get a negotiated settlement, which Kenyatta’s side was not prepared to accept.

    “It is a manufactured situation to achieve a political end and that is what we must resist,” he said.

    Odinga was looking for a way out of the election after realising he was not likely to win, Ruto said.

    “They wanted a repeat election, they have a repeat election. They don’t want to participate. What do they want?” he said.

    Read Also:Kenya’s presidential rerun holds October 26

     

  • Bomb Attack Victims: Somalia appeals for humanitarian support

    Bomb Attack Victims: Somalia appeals for humanitarian support

    Somalia on Monday appealed to the international community to provide assistance to enable the government to respond to crisis following bomb attack in Mogadishu on Saturday, which had so far claimed more than 276 lives.

    The country’s Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management said the government had raised a team of ministers to coordinate and oversee the overall response to the national crisis.

    The ministry added that a government-led National Emergency Operations Centre had also been activated in line with the national disaster management policy to help respond to the crisis.

    It noted that “government had appealed to all actors on ground to coordinate the emergency operations centre so as to reach all victims affected by the deadly attack.”

    So far, Kenya, Turkey and Djibouti are among countries that offered medical assistance following the deadly attack that shocked the international community.

    A bomb-laden truck exploded at a busy junction in central Mogadishu lined with government buildings, restaurants, hotels and kiosks, killing 276 people and injuring over 300.

    The blast destroyed buildings and set vehicles ablaze, in one of the worst such attack to date in the capital, which suffered nearly three decades of violence.

    No group, including Al-Shabaab terror group which usually carries out such attacks, has claimed responsibility for the latest attack.

    The ministry said the team at the National Emergency Operation Centre was assisting with victim identification, information and data management, coordination of hospitals response across the city and providing logistics support.

    It said rescue workers had continued to work in the area and so far the death toll stood at 276 and
    300 injured.

    “However, these numbers may rise as more victims continue to be rescued from the rubbles in the surrounding area,” it said. (Xinhua/NAN)

  • ECOWAS, AU score Liberia elections high

    ECOWAS, AU score Liberia elections high

    The ECOWAS Election Observation Mission to Liberia on Wednesday said the country’s general elections held on Tuesday were on the path to being credible.

    It said this in its preliminary report presented by its leader and former President of Ghana, Mr John Mahama, at a joint press conference with the African Union ( AU ) delegation in Monrovia.

    Mahama said although there were isolated cases of violence and late commencement of voting in some parts of the country, the exercise was generally transparent up to the point of vote counting.

    “Let me emphasise here. The mission believes thus far, up to this point, that with the environment in the lead up to the election, the voting day activities, sorting and counting of the ballots, Liberia is largely on track to achieve a credible poll.

    “This is the meat of my report, and I don’t want to be misreported; thus far, thus far. I am utilising my Kenyan experience; thus far.’’

    The experience cited by Mahama bordered on the public criticism he received for rating the last presidential elections in Kenya as credible.

    He was one of the observers in that election, which was later nullified by the country’s Supreme Court due to irregularities.

    Mahama commended the National Elections Commission ( NEC ) for the “professionalism displayed by its leadership and officials in the field, urging it to expedite action on quick release of the results to dowse public anxiety”.

    “The mission urges the electoral commission to approach the concluding phases of the process with fairness and transparency until the final proclamation of results.

    “It calls on the party leaders and candidates, their followers and the media to maintain the same posture of restraint, serenity and patriotism until the collation has been completed and the announcement of the results made.

    “The ECOWAS observation mission urges NEC to expedite action on the proclamation of the results in order to prevent anxiety within the population.’’

    The ECOWAS mission team leader also lauded the candidates, their parties and supporters for their “maturity during the campaigning and the voting process”.

    He called on all the candidates to put Liberia first by maintaining the prevailing peace in the land, while also urging the candidates to accept the will of the people.

    Mahama emphasised the need for candidates to seek redress only through legal means in the event of genuine grievances.

    Mr Erastus Mwencha, who led the AU team, said there was a “lot of convergence’’ in both reports.

    In his remarks, Mwencha noted that democracy was taking deeper root in Africa judging by the Liberian experience.

    “We found there was a lot of convergence, and so don’t expect me to say anything outside what the president has said.

    “In fact, I was telling him that I was simply coming to say `ditto’, that is all that I needed to say.

    “Having witnessed the election of 2005, the election of 2011, and now that of 2017, we have seen democracy being entrenched and Liberians taking this process as their own.

    “The first election was done with a lot on international support, but this election was largely an exercise conducted by the people of Liberia.’’

    The Liberian electoral body is expected to release provisional results of the elections on Thursday.

    NAN

  • Andela Raises $40M to build global tech entrepreneurs

    Andela Raises $40M to build global tech entrepreneurs

    Andela, the company that builds high-performing engineering teams with Africa’s most talented software developers, has  secured $40M in Series C funding.
    With offices in Lagos, Nigeria, Nairobi, Kenya, and Kampala, Uganda, Andela has hired 500 developers to date — the top 0.7 per cent  of more than 70,000 applicants from across the continent.
    A statement said the  investment was led by pan-African venture firm CRE Venture Capital with participation from DBL Partners, Amplo, Salesforce Ventures, and Africa-focused TLcom Capital.
     Existing investors including Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, GV, and Spark Capital also participated. The round, which marks one of the largest investments ever led by an African venture firm into an Africa-based company, brings Andela’s total venture funding to just over $80M.
    Andela was launched in 2014 to combat the global technical talent shortage by investing in Africa’s most talented software developers.
     With an estimated 1.3M software jobs unfilled in 2016 in the U.S. alone, it’s clear that the growth of today’s major technology ecosystems is inhibited by a severe lack of talent.
    To solve this, Andela invests in high potential pools of brainpower across the African continent to help more than 100 partner companies build distributed engineering teams. These partners range from industry leaders like Viacom and Mastercard Labs to high-growth technology companies such as Gusto and GitHub.
    Selected developers spend six months in a rigorous onboarding program before being matched with one of Andela’s partner companies as full-time engineering team members.
    Beyond recruiting elite development talent, Andela is catalyzing the growth of tech ecosystems across the continent by open-sourcing its content and partnering with organizations including Google, Pluralsight and Udacity to provide resources and mentorship to developers.
    “Andela is investing in our continent’s future technology leaders, who are already playing a much-needed role in solving both African and global problems,” said Country Director Andela Nigeria, Seni Sulyman.
    “With each new partnership, we are simultaneously proving to the global tech industry that brilliance is evenly distributed irrespective of gender, culture or nationality. As we unleash an entire generation of technologists, we will secure Africa’s role as an equal partner working alongside the rest of the world to advance human potential.”
  • CAF Emergency Committee to meet in Lagos

    CAF Emergency Committee to meet in Lagos

    The Emergency Committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) which is about the most powerful panel in African football, will hold a meeting in Lagos on Saturday, Oct. 14

    The Nigeria Football Federation’s ( NFF ) Director of Media, Ademola Olajire, said in a statement on Tuesday in Lagos that the meeting of the CAF Emergency Committee would be held in Ikoyi, Lagos.

    It said that the Confederation of African Football executive members would discuss its competitions and other important events ahead of the organisation, including the withdrawal of African Nations Championship given to Kenya.

    “CAF top guns confirmed to the NFF that the meeting, which will hold in Ikoyi, will deliberate on recent happenings in the game in Africa.

    “It will as well have discussion on competitions coming up next year, including the African Nations Championship, which hosting right has been withdrawn from Kenya.

    “The CAF Emergency Committee, which is chaired by CAF President, Ahmad, also has the three Vice-Presidents of CAF as Members, as well as NFF President, Amaju Pinnick.

    “Others include Liberia’s FA President, Hassan Musa Bility and CAF Referees Committee head, Souleiman Hassan Waberi. All are also members of the Confederation of African Football Executive Committee.

    “CAF’s three Vice-Presidents are Ghana’s Kwesi Nyantakyi (1st Vice-President), Democratic Republic of Congo’s Omari Constant Selemani (2nd Vice-President) and Morocco’s Fouzi Lekjaa (3rd Vice-President),’’ it said.

    It also said that “the meeting comes up on the eve of the grand finale of the AITEO Cup competition, taking place at the Agege Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 15, and to which all the members of the CAF Emergency Committee have been invited.

    “Sources have also confirmed that Egypt’s Hani Abo Rida, who is a member of the FIFA Council, will be part of CAF President Ahmad’s entourage to Lagos.

    “Pinnick will personally receive the CAF boss Ahmad at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos on Oct. 13 – the same day other members of the Emergency Committee will arrive in Nigeria.

    “It was further gathered that there will be ‘An Evening with Ahmad,’ which is a dinner on Saturday night, it said adding that members of the diplomatic community and NFF’s sponsors and partners had been invited.

    NAN