Kenya polls: Kenyatta family treated the Kikuyu like their serfs, now the community is revolting
About a month to the August 9, 2022 elections, a Kikuyu elder man was ushered in the offices of Enke Ltd, at the Chancery Building, uptown Nairobi, on Valley Road. Enke Ltd is one of the Kenyatta family’s flagship companies. The man had an appointment with the princely Muhoho Kenyatta,...
Opinion divided in Kenya as presidential poll loser challenges results in Supreme Court
Kenyan presidential candidate Raila Odinga has filed an electronic copy of his challenge against the results of this month’s election, a lawyer for his Azimio La Umoja coalition has told a local broadcaster. “What we did this morning is to file the online copy,” lawyer Daniel Maanzo told Kenyan television...
Election aftershock: Kenya’s economic outlook grim as jittery lenders withhold funds from government
In the streets of Nairobi, it appears to be business as usual as people return to work even after the August 16 announcement by presidential candidate Raila Odinga that he will be moving to court to challenge William Ruto’s win. The macro economy tells a different story, though. Following the...
Elections: Polling centres in Kenya close, early results expected from around midnight
Polling centres in Kenya have closed and counting is expected to start shortly after, election officials say. The polling stations, according to rules, will automatically convert into tallying centres. Early results are expected to start streaming in from 9pm East African time. Unconfirmed reports, quoting Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission...
South Sudan leaders face international wrath after extending mandate of transition regime
South Sudan’s leaders announced on Thursday that the country’s post-war transitional government would remain in power two years beyond an agreed deadline, in a move foreign partners warned lacked legitimacy. Martin Elia Lomuro, the minister of cabinet affairs, said the decision was taken “to address the challenges that impede the...
Democracy on trial in Kenya the country goes to the polls in region facing political turbulence
Kenya’s competitive presidential elections reflect hard-earned progress in establishing independent constitutional and judicial guardrails, though a history of electoral violence demands all sides show restraint. Kenyans will vote in August in their seventh presidential elections since the introduction of multiparty politics in 1991. The competitiveness of the elections, and uncertainty...
While Kenyan youths are averse elections, their Nigerian counterparts want to vote to fix corruption
On August 9, Kenyan voters will cast their ballots in what many are calling a two-horse race between the 77-year-old Raila Odinga and the 55-year-old William Samoei Ruto, the current deputy president. Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has also cleared two other candidates in the hotly contested race to...
African Union observers on daunting mission in Kenya, Senegal as the two countries go to polls
The African Union (AU) Election Observation Mission is in for a major month of work, with two teams dispatched to Senegal and Kenya where there are upcoming elections. Senegal held legislative elections on 31 July, while Kenya’s General Election is coming up on August 9. The polls, according to the...
Why China is a major talking point as Kenya holds elections on August 9 and President Kenyatta retires
As campaigning gears up for Kenya’s August 9 presidential elections, the two main candidates are both focused on one key talking point – the economy – and this inevitably means the country’s controversial relationship with China is coming under the spotlight. Deputy President William Ruto, a former chicken-seller who styles...
High number of youths expected to give Kenyan polls wide berth, terming them corrupt, pointless
As a familiar campaign jingle brings the Kenyan crowd to their feet, Hellen Atieno joins her compatriots and sways to the catchy tune at a political rally in the lakeside city of Kisumu. Just don’t expect the 23-year-old to vote; she is looking for money. “I have only come to...
