Odinga Calls for Million Man March

Raila Odinga speaking earlier today laid down terms for his talks with Mwai Kibaki. “We can only engage in talks with President Kibaki if he resigns from office. For us to start negotiations with him while he is still holding office, it would be equal to accepting that he is legitimately in office when we know he is not. His is an illegitimate government,” he said.

Kenyan Pundit Hacked

Kenya Pundit is down and is attempting to set up a new blog. Ory Okolloh believes her site has been hacked as she is unable to post comments or moderate the site. She has done some very admirable work keeping everyone up to date with what is happening on the ground. Is this the beginning of a government crackdown on the internet?

Africabeat has more information and posted this message from Ory:

As some of you might know I’ve been pretty much the only source of credible information about the election situation in Kenya over the last fews, and more especially since a media blackout was imposed by the government (no live broadcasts, no news, nothing!) – the country is on fire and we have no idea what the government is doing to clamp protests down and how many people have been killed. After the blackout, blogs and sms’s have been pretty much the only source of information for Kenyans both in Kenya and outside Kenya. Late night I asked my readers to send me whatever information /news they have in the comment section so that we could keep the news flowing. When I woke up this morning to moderate comments and write a post I was unable to do any admin on Kenyan Pundit (see attached screenshot and note the swiftkenya details even though I’m hosted in the states).

I never thought I would ever witness this in Kenya and be the subject of censorship – in fact every time I spoke about blogging in Kenya I was proud of the fact that the government has stayed away from bloggers. Now I have been shut down (well they think they can shut me down).

Kenya is now officially under a police state and I’m not sure how much coverage this is getting internationally, and I’m not sure how long it will last.

Please spread the word internationally and take up our cause as Kenyan bloggers and citizens – I refuse to be cowered by fear and intimidation.

Hopefully internet and mobile access won’t be next.

In shock,

Ory Okolloh

UPDATE: Kenyan Pundit is back up and running. It was a traffic issue and not because the site had been hacked.

a little on how the election was rigged

Kenyans show their dissatisfaction with the election of Kibaki

The finger of blame for the violence that has engulfed Kenya over the past 24 hours is pointing squarely at the Electoral Commission of Kenya. There can be no doubt that their dubious behaviour caused tensions to mount and was the main instigator of the ensuing turmoil that has gripped Kenya since the announcement of Kibaki’s victory.

The ECK should have been seen to be whiter than white in the way it handled the vote tallying but from the start there was much that caused me to wonder at the integrity of the Chair Samuel Kivuite.

Koki Muli the co-chair of the Kenya Election Domestic Observation Forum witnessed the irregularities with her own eyes. Vote tallies from seventy five out of the 210 constitutiencies had raised serious doubts about the transparency of the process and while Kivuite had initially agreed to scrutinise these more closely overnight on Saturday, by Sunday he had changed his mind.

“We regret that it has not been possible to address irregularities about which both the EU EOM (Electoral Observation Mission) and the ECK (Electoral Commission of Kenya) have evidence,” Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, the chief European observer declared and noted that “the presidential elections were flawed”.

ODM politicians found that the ECK tallies did not reflect reality in 48 constituencies where votes in one constituency had been inflated by 20,000 in favour of Kibaki. Like Muli, they found that there were serious questions hanging over the way in which forms were filled because they had not been signed by poll agents, while other results were read from computer printouts without any other documentation to verify them.

For Odinga there was no doubt that the votes had been rigged by the ECK. “In Marakwet East, Rift Valley, I got 30,000 votes but the presidential votes announced here (Nairobi) show I got 19,000 votes. In Juja, near Nairobi, the votes cast were 52,000, but it was altered to show that he (President Kibaki) got 100,000 votes,” he told reporters at a news conference on Sunday.

Even Kivuite acknowledged that voter turnout in central Kenya had been “abnormal” with voters exceeding by a 115% registered voters. At one polling centre a candidate had been seen running off with ballot papers.

Earlier Kivuite complained that he had been unable to contact election clerks at 51 voting centres because their phones were switched off and threatened to announce the results without them. Then the vote tallies started to stream in and it became obvious who the winner of the 2007 election was going to be. Certainly not Odinga, whose million vote lead had evaporated to a mere 38,000 by this time.

Results from Nithii, Eastern Kenya showed Kibaki gaining 95,000 votes, a figure that did not match the 65,000 announced earlier at the polling station.

Another damning account came however from a returning officer, Kipkomei arap Komei, who revealed that “there was shameless, blatant and open alteration of results” by electoral officers once verified tallies had arrived at the commission’s Nairobi headquarters.
“My conscience will not let me see what I have seen and not speak out,” said Mr Komei, as those listening to him cried “hero”. He said that some constituencies had seen their numbers inflated by 20,000 and that officers at the KICC were being asked to massage the numbers until they got the right result.

Given all these anomalies it is incredible that the British and US government ask Kenyans to accept the election results.

UPDATE: US withdraws support for Kibaki’s presidential win.

The US effectively retracted a statement from Washington that had congratulated Mr Kibaki on his victory by releasing a statement from its Nairobi embassy expressing concern about “serious problems experienced during the vote counting process”.

UPDATE: Kenyan electoral commissioners call for an enquiry and admit irregularities with the vote counting:

Four electoral commissioners have called for an independent inquiry into whether any of their colleagues tampered with presidential election results before they were announced in Nairobi.

They agreed with election observers that there were significant irregularities in some of the results, and described the complaints raised by the Orange Democratic Movement as “weighty.”

The four commissioners – Mr Jack Tumwa, Mr D.A. Ndamburi, Mr Samuel arap Ngeny and Mr Jeremiah Matagaro – addressed the Press as violent protests spread across the country over presidential election results as announced by the Electoral Commission of Kenya.

They said information received from returning officers after results had been announced at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre cast doubt on the figures presented to the public.

The commissioners cited the case of Molo constituency where the presidential figures announced in Nairobi differed from those read at the constituency, some say by up to 20,000 votes.

Asked whether some of their colleagues may have tampered with the results in Nairobi, Mr Tumwa suggested that an independent inquiry could establish the truth. “It is only this way that the truth can come out,” he said.

UPDATE: Please see latest post for update on ECK chair’s admission of culpabilty here.

UPDATE: 3rd January 2008, 3:54 GMT New twist: crucial Form 16As kept in a safe at the KICC by some returning officers have disappeared.

There was tension at the ECK operation centre on Wednesday morning after some returning officers openly protested that the Form 16As, which they had kept in a Cabinet at KICC, had gone missing.

“We came here this morning and they told us that the forms had been stolen,” an official told The Standard as tempers flared.

But officers from the General Service Unit immediately ordered journalists to leave.

Saddest 24 Hours

Soldiers attack supporters of the opposition leader Raila Odinga in Mathare, a Nairobi slum

I am hearing that people are being killed in Kibera. Kibera is one of the largest slums in the world with a population of one million. Yahoo News reports that Kikuyus were being hunted down in the alleys but Charles Digges accompanied government soldiers on a foot patrol through Kibera last night where he witnessed Odinga supporters being attacked and left for dead by soldiers. Kikuyus were fleeing the slum with their belongings. Kenyan Pundit also says that there has been a run on the shops in Nairobi. Food supplies are dwindling and the situation can only get worse as business in the city has come to a complete halt.

In the meantime Uhuru Park has been surrounded by GSU to prevent the planned ODM meeting from going ahead today. Kumekucha says that Odinga’s inauguration has been put off until 3rd January 2008 and that he has set up a “parallel” government. UPDATE: BBC News24 is reporting on tickertape continuous updates on Kenya – Odinga is calling for mass action on the 3rd – this is somewhat different from the news heard that it is to be an inauguration. He expects to 1 million of his supporters out on the streets.

CORRECTION:“We are calling for mass action, peaceful mass action. We will all the time inform the police of what is going to happen and there will be a peaceful procession,” Odinga announced today in the presence of the Canadian Ambassador to Kenya and said he is preparing to present himself as the “peoples president” on the 3rd.

Raila Odinga speaking today at a conference held at the Intercontinental Hotel

UPDATE: Speaking to Germany’s Spiegel Odinga says that Kenya is undergoing a civilian coup and said “There is no difference between him (Kibaki) and Idi Amin and other military dictators who have seized power through the barrel of the gun”. Thilo Thielke writing for Spiegel reports that Odinga’s supporters are being dragged from their homes in Kangemi and beaten. Even pregnant women are being assaulted with wooden batons. Jesus!

In Kisumu GSU surround the morgue where some 43 bodies lie in rest. BBC News24 shows scenes of wailing relatives. Elsewhere the news is not good either, in Eldoret many Kikuyus were killed.

The last 24 hours count as the most saddest in Kenya’s 44 year history. It is incredible that Kibaki did not foresee what stealing the election would unleash. It is also incredible that he also does not realize that it will be next to impossible to rule Kenya through the barrel of a gun. Repression will only breed more resentment. What a fool he is.

UPDATE
Police have been given shoot to kill orders but this has divided the officers as many of them sympathize with the protestors. A government spokesman denied the reports.

UPDATE: BBC News24 is showing scenes of police using water cannon against Kibera residents. Tear gas and live rounds were also fired into the crowds who were being chased back into Kibera. Earlier the police could be seen running through Kibera beating people with batons. One of the police was heard shouting in Swahili “Stones, stones!” At this the police did an about turn and beat a retreat expecting a deluge of stones to rain down on them. Later BBC showed crowds once more attempting to leave Kibera and police reversing slowly in a landrover.

The police were charged with keeping Kibera residents from leaving the slum. The BBC reports that the crowds grew bigger and at one point even dared the police to shoot at them.

Marching and singing defiantly, the crowds at one point dared the police to shoot them as they started marching right into the contingent of policemen mounted in trucks or on foot.

Technorati Tags: Kenya, Odinga, Kibaki, Politics

A Political Mugging

Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Milliband has expressed his concerns over the voting “irregularities” noted by EU and other observers, many of whom were manhandled by the GSU earlier today when the KICC was cleared so that Kivuite could furtively declare Kibaki the presidential winner.

While the editorial in Britain’s Times describes the current leadership as a “pampered, self-perpetuating political elite dominated since independence by the Kikuyu tribe”, clearly signalling the UK elite’s exasperation with the shabby events which transpired in Kenya today and in surprisingly strong and emotive language not usually seen in this paper; it does not bode well for Kibaki or for the Kikuyu.

There are Kikuyu who comprise the elite, just as there are Kalenjin, Luo, Luyia and so on. These elites have more in common with each other than with the poor. Similarly, there are millions of Kikuyu who like the rest are impoverished BUT tonight it is the Kikuyu who will be dragged from their homes and killed while Kibaki sits in State House growing more soporific on beer and the whisperings of his advisors who tell him all is well.

Is this what we want? This blot on our national conscience? That reference in the Times to the self-perpetuating elite which slyly slipped in mention of the Kikuyu without drawing attention to the contradiction that for over 20 years Moi, a Kalenjin, stuffed every political post he could with Kalenjins or the fact that others like Odinga, a Luo, became a millionaire businessman is almost an endorsement, an acceptance that Kikuyu blood must be spilled to create this new Republic.

Much rests now on how Odinga carries himself.

Can he lead a genuine Orange Revolution? From where I am sitting, many of Kenya’s middle-class are outraged by the events unfolding and are not going to turn a blind eye to the massacres taking place tonight. I hear from Kumekucha that Kibera is under fire tonight with gunshots being heard there – GSU brutality in action. Those bullets are being fired at Luos.

Odinga can pull this off but how different is he from Kibaki?

It is not only the poor and disenfranchised that are enraged. Every successful revolution of the past has depended on middle-class support.

I do see the logic in what Odinga is doing but I do not see the logic in splitting a country along tribal lines and I fear the ensuing bloodshed will not be healed easily if it becomes tribal warfare, it’s a wound that should never be opened. This is a political battle in that the democratic process was aborted by the blatant vote-rigging it is also, more importantly, an economic one and many have not seen trickle down theories put food on their tables or clothe their kids; it is not a tribal battle and Odinga needs to spell that out to the entire country, especially as nobody else is prepared to do so.

Odinga needs to also spell out where he is planning to take the country, map out the big idea. NOW! If he fails to do this, we’ll just descend into senseless killing and anarchy. If Odinga is a true patriot he must take this moment and clarify his vision, his mission. Make a commitment to reducing poverty straight away. Give a time-table for reducing poverty, explain how it will be done, if you are serious Odinga. Under Kibaki poverty was reduced, people are hungry for a better life and if you want to lead this country Odinga, remember it’s the poor of ALL ethnicities who voted for you yesterday. Addendum: The vote was more anti-Kibaki and the corrupt old guard (the mzees (old men) of Kenyan politics) than pro-opposition. “The president was seen as doing a bad job in terms of ethnic balance.”

Watching the election from the moment that it was clear the ECK were working hand in glove to overturn Odinga’s majority has been like watching a deja-vu nightmare. A friend from Kenya reminded me of Rwanda. Do Kenyans really want to go there? It is the predictability that makes me mad, any 10 year old could have seen this coming and so WHY did Kibaki play along with this madness? Don’t lives and peace count for that “pampered, self-perpetuating elite”?

The following reaction of Muthoni Wanyeki of the Human Rights Commission to the stolen election was relayed to me earlier. She said, “They did it. Through attempts to disenfranchise Luo voters in Nairobi and finally through manipulating figures. We need a detailed, rigorous response, collectively, to express our anger and pain at how voters have been betrayed, and Kenya diminished, shamed before the rest of Africa and the world. Remember how we felt iin 2003? It’s all gone.”

So how to explain the dead-eyed reaction of a US state department official calling Kibaki to congratulate him on his victory and asking Kenyans to accept the decision of the ECK, declaring that it is up to them to investigate claims of vote-rigging. Don’t they realize what has happened? You don’t ask a thief to account for the goods he has stolen.

As my wise Kenyan friend said it’s “a political mugging”.

Raila Odinga declares himself the winner

To the dismay of myself and many other Kenyans Raila Odinga has declared himself the winner of the Kenyan elections and promised to set up a parallel government and has called for his supporters to come out in force at his inauguration to show that Kenyans reject the decision of the Electoral Commission of Kenya.

The inauguration ceremony has been set for 2.00 p.m. in Uhuru Park tomorrow, which has also coincidentally been declared a public holiday by Kibaki. The rumour mill suggests that Odinga and other big wheels have been arrested, following a ruling that the inauguration ceremony has been declared illegal. Although Kumekucha who has so far been spot on with his reports of what is happening on the ground in Kenya has not reported this. Earlier in the day he had said he was leaving the city with Odinga’s convoy so as to get through the security checks, I’d expect him of all people to know and broadcast this loudly should it be true.

In a statement from the Police Commissioner’s office, Odinga and supporters were warned that ‘After due consideration of the prevailing security situation the meeting is illegal and any person who will attempt to attend this meeting will face the full force of the law.’

In the meantime the government has placed a ban on all live media broadcasts, ostensibly to prevent a planned ODM conference in which voting irregularities were going to be discussed live on air. All negative media images of Kenya have also been banned.

A Stolen Election

Sickening scenes of violence being meted out onto Kenyans are now beginning to be broadcast on BBC News24. The incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was sworn in as the returning president on the lawns of State House in front of a coterie of PNU supporters with none of the state pomp and ceremony normally accorded such momentous occasions. “I stand before you humbled and grateful for the opportunity you have given me to serve you again as your president for a second five-year term,” Kibaki said.

While only kilometres away Nairobi was erupting in flames as ODM supporters unleashed their fury as their hopes of change were dashed by the Electoral Commission of Kenya announcing Kibaki as the winner of the 2007 election. Similar angry scenes were repeated around the country. Young men waving machetes could be seen running through towns scraping and sharpening them on the tarmac in a threatening manner.

Incredibly, Kenyans at home and abroad have witnessed over the past three days an event so full of promise turn so quickly into its opposite. Only yesterday Raila Odinga, the opposition leader, had been certain of victory. There he was in the lead with a million votes between him and Kibaki. It looked too good to be true. Although there were claims of vote-rigging, it seemed impossible to reverse or overturn such a margin of victory, or so I thought.

However, Nationmedia had been publishing online official ECK results of the election which showed Odinga to be in the lead and then at 2.30 pm their poll showed the lead falling to 38,000 at this point all reporting on vote tallies stopped. What was also just as extraordinary about the new tally was that Odinga’s total votes had dropped from just over 4 million on the Nationmedia site to 3.8 million, and Kenyans were asked to swallow this, as if the earlier figures had not been official ECK totals.

Nationmedia at 2.00 p.m. (GMT) yesterday:

Kibaki: 4,009,300
Odinga: 4,356,092
Kalonzo: 452,952

Nationmedia at 2.30 p.m. (GMT) yesterday:

Kibaki: 3,842,051
Odinga: 3,880,053
Kalonzo: 452,952

The ECK suspended all further activities in a bid to cool the situation down and plan their next move. It was rumoured that Kibaki would be sworn in the next day in secrecy at 2.30 p.m. The delays in announcing the result triggered angry scenes in which innocent people were attacked, it seemed the violence was being directed at Kikuyus in general. Stories of Kikuyu businesses in Kisumu being looted and burnt to the ground began to circulate.

Today the KICC which was hosting the ECK media circus became the scene of bitter recriminations from ODM supporters who accused the commission of blatant vote-rigging and demanded a recount. GSU were called in to establish calm and some ODM supporters were led out of the building. Kivuite, the chair of the ECK, walked out of the conference room to find another more conducive to announcing the official election results. There was a news blackout at the KICC and all journalists, officials and opposition party members were forced to leave the building. Shortly afterwards, under cover of the media black-out Kivuite announced Mwai Kibaki to be the next president of Kenya. The news spread quickly via the internet and text messaging to the dismay of millions of Kenyans. Kibaki had won by 300,000 votes. That’s 300,000 fraudulent votes that have completely undermined his presidency and wiped out any legitimacy he can lay claim to.

The official ECK Results are as follows:

KIBAKI: 4,584,721

RAILA: 4,352,993

KALONZO: 879,903

The ECK chair Kivuite has delivered the election to Kibaki in one of the most cynical moves ever and has thrown down the gauntlet to Odinga and the ODM to challenge his decision in the courts. “The Electoral Commission has no jurisdiction over the issues raised. These
are matters for the judiciary. We hope the courts would move expeditiously,” Kivuite declared, heartlessly, with no thought for the people who would be killed within 15 minutes of this historic declaration and within a few kilometres of where he made this statement. Hope destroyed.

Can justice be delivered in courts stuffed full of Kibaki’s men? I doubt it. However, I urge Kenyans to please, please, please practise restraint and to use peaceful means to eject from office this cabal of the corrupt. It can be done. Aside from pulling supporters back from the brink of the abyss and calling for peace and calm, Odinga should push for a motion of no confidence in Kibaki’s government to be passed on the day Parliament reopens. He has the numbers to swing it.

Kenya’s democratic institutions are too precious to be thrown away in this manner. History has shown that once they are destroyed it will be far too difficult to rebuild them. The moment gone.

Putsch or push?