Kenya elected it's forth president this week. His name is Uhuru Kenyatta. He is the son of the country's first president Jomo Kenyatta. Also, he's on trial at the ICC (no, not inter-club council; the international criminal court) for war crimes. Allegedly, he funded the violence that broke out in the last Kenyan presidential election in 2007.
I have to say, being in a country during election season is an interesting thing. Presidential elections in the U.S. are fun! Firstly, presidential debates produce about 50% of internet memes in election years. Secondly, election night is equally as exciting as New Years Eve, especially if you're watching CNN. There should be a drinking game next year where you drink every time Wolf Blitzer says, "STAND BY FOR PROJECTION!" John King's magic board is so amazing and magical to look at. This year, I was watching CNN election night at the Charter clubhouse from Eastern polls closing to Obama's speech and it was a wonderful Tuesday night.
This Kenyan election was less fun. Firstly, I want to say that I didn't really care about who won. Not to say I don't care about Kenyan politics, but I really don't know anything about the candidates other than one is a war criminal, but some people accuse Barack Obama of being a war criminal for drone strikes and such. All I'm saying is, I trust Kenyans to elect a president that they trust so... I didn't really care about who won. We Princetonians/Columbians here in Kenya were just hoping for NO RUN-OFF. See, here - unlike in the idiotic U.S.A - they have a multi-party system and the winner must take over 50% of the vote in order to win without having a run-off. We didn't want a run-off because it would mean delaying the second round of voting which could then fall on our planned dates to visit the U.N. Millenium Village and other agricultural things in Kisumu (Western Kenya). Princeton was worried that this region would be filled with violence (because it was last time). With a delayed vote, the violence would overlap with our travels West. So we were hoping for a clear winner this time, and a clear winner (sort of) we got! The actual voting was on Monday and - due to voting irregularities and electronic failures - the results did not reach us until this afternoon (Saturday). Can you imagine that? Can you imagine voting in the U.S. presidential election and not finding out who won until almost a week later? I can't. All day Monday, I was refreshing google looking for results. It's times like this I miss CCN election night and the John King magic board. Even as results were trickling in and Kenyatta had a several point lead over Odinga, I had no idea if he would keep this lead because we had no data on what counties were reporting! This is crucial information while trying to project a winner. For example, if Obama's leading by a lot in Florida, it doesn't necessarily mean anything if the only counties reporting are Miami-Dade!
Everyday since Monday, I've been checking. Today, while we were shopping in the Nakumatt (the Kenyan Walmart), I walked by the TV section and several employees were watching Kenyatta speak to the nation. It was eerie and exciting, like watching the acceptance speeches by president-elects in the U.S. I just hope violence doesn't break out. I really don't know if it will or not. The loser - Odinga - claims the election results are flawed, so that's not a good thing. If enough people want to rally around him, I suppose things could go South. But at the same time, after such a horrible result last time, I can't imagine people would want to risk repeating that.
Anyway, I'm in no harm either way. I live in a remote research centre one hour away from Nanyuki in central Kenya, Laikipia district. There's no reason any violence would come to us here, but I thought I'd let my American friends know about what's happening in the world. Especially my Princeton friends, as I know sometimes knowledge of world politics wanes whilst inside the Orange Bubble.
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P.S. I just learned that I can use Facebook again so feel free to communicate with me through that medium if you wish!
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