Kenya was thrown into turmoil yesterday after Mwai Kibaki, the incumbent President, was unexpectedly declared winner of an election marred by ethnic violence and allegations of fraud.

Rioters poured on to the streets after the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) said that Mr Kibaki had won reelection by just 230,000 votes in the tightest contest in the country’s history. He was hastily sworn into office minutes after being declared the winner over Raila Odinga, his main opponent.

The Government suspended all live radio and television news reports as riots spread across the country. At least 20 people have been killed.

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said that Britain had “real concerns” at voting irregularities reported by European Union monitors.

Mr Odinga, who led narrowly throughout three days of counting, rejected the election process and the result as fraudulent. He promised to present himself as the “People’s President” at a rally today in the centre of Nairobi.

In the capital’s Kibera slum, an opposition stronghold, young men chanting “No peace, no peace” torched shacks and stores. Ten people were reported to have died in western Kenya’s Nyanza province, the homeland of Mr Odinga’s Luo ethnic group.

The Odinga and Kibaki camps appealed for calm but both sides accused the other of delaying the vote-count, which had dragged into its third day, and of rigging results in their respective power bases.

Anger over delays in announcing the results led to clashes between members of the Luo and Kikuyu tribes supporting rival candidates and raised fears of wider ethnic clashes.

It was an ominous development in an election hailed initially as free and fair and a model for the rest of Africa. The Daily Nation had claimed in an editorial that the process would leave Kenya “the envy of the rest of Africa”. But with Mr Odinga appearing first to have narrowly won and then suddenly to have lost by such a small margin, the ECK was accused of delivering a victory to the incumbent.

Yesterday evening Mr Kibaki, 76, who had promised to abide by the will of the people, looked more like another African despot. At the hastily convened swearing-in ceremony, just one hour after the disputed results were announced, a frail-looking Mr Kibaki pledged to form a “clean-hands” government.

“I urge all of us to set aside the passions that were excited by the election and work together as one people with a single purpose of building a strong, united, prosperous and equitable country,” Mr Kibaki said. “With the general election now behind us, it is time for healing and reconciliation among all Kenyans.”

Mr Kibaki had seemed destined to become one of Africa’s few incumbents to lose an election after early results showed Mr Odinga with a one million-vote lead. Voters had also kicked out many of his allies and old-school politicians tainted by corruption in parliamentary elections held at the same time as the presidential vote. About 80 per cent of his Cabinet have lost their seats.

Mr Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement fell just short of an absolute majority in parliament, capturing 95 of the total of 210 seats, far more than any other party. The resulting stalemate could either leave Mr Kibaki powerless or force him into a coalition with the opposition.

“Kibaki will have to do a deal with the opposition. He could even face impeachment – this thing is not over by a long way,” one political analyst said.

The controversy over the conduct of the elections threatens to damage the reputation of Kenya – one of the most developed countries in Africa. Observers saw the vote as the greatest test yet of its 15-year-old multiparty democracy – a test it appears to have failed.

Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, chief European Union election monitor, said that the ECK “has not succeeded in establishing the credibility of the tallying process to the satisfaction of all parties and candidates”.

Earlier yesterday Mr Odinga’s supporters claimed that the official vote tallies from 48 constituencies were not based on counts announced at the polling stations. In some cases official tallies showed that more people had voted than were on the electoral rolls. Some constituencies in both candidates’ strongholds reported turnouts of more than 95 per cent, fuelling more suspicions of rigging on both sides.

Samuel Kivuitu, the ECK chairman, had to be hustled off the podium by police and out of the room where he had planned to announce the results after Mr Odinga’s supporters began shouting “We want justice!”. Later police ushered all reporters, except the state broadcaster, from the building where Mr Kivuitu would announce Mr Kibaki as the winner.

Kenya’s economy grew by 5 per cent last year, and tourism has recovered to levels not seen since the 1998 bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi.

“The situation is not going to be good for some time because people are not happy. The winner is Raila,” said Jane Akeyo Okendo, an ODM supporter. “You know the Kenyan police like shooting. But it is millions of people and you cannot control millions of people.”

Ballot box upheavals

- Frederick Chiluba, a former bus conductor, became President of Zambia in 1991 in a landslide win that sent shockwaves through Africa. The previous President, Kenneth Kaunda, and his party Unip had held power since 1964

- John Kufuor, the President of Ghana, beat the longstanding military dictator Jerry Rawlings in the 2000 elections. Rawlings had been in power for most of the period between 1983 and 2000. He introduced a multiparty election system in 1992

- General Robert Guei was ousted as ruler of Ivory Coast in 2000 by a large-scale public uprising when he declared himself the winner in controversial presidential elections

- General Andre Kolingba was President of the Central African Republic from the mid80s to the early 90s, after overthrowing the previous military leader. He was forced to introduce multiparty elections in 1993 and lost

Source: Times Archive

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