political holidays

Christmas day for us was pleasant enough.  We enjoyed a relaxing morning then went around visiting friends and family.  Christmas day is the best day to drive through Nairobi city.  There is no one around because most people have left the city to spend with their families in rural areas and celebrate the holiday.  So no traffic jams. You can actually get from one place to another in a matter of minutes as compared to the normal crawl we experience daily.

On the 27th, Kenya held national elections for president and other government seats.  Kenya has a history of spouts of violence when it comes to elections.  We were a bit concerned about how things might go.  Surprisingly and fortunately the day went very well.  Kenyans came out in record numbers to cast votes and most of them did it in a very peaceful manner.  There were reports of a few problems here and there, but nothing major.   Many felt that there was a free and fair election.

It is two days now since voting took place.  Many expected the results to come very quickly but they have been dragging along slowly by slowly.  People are getting annoyed.  The trend throughout the country is that as the votes are coming in, the opposition party to the current government have been sweeping positions.  The guy challenging the current president was leading by a  high margin since yesterday, but this morning that gap has become very small.

The current slowness in releasing results is starting to make a lot of people very suspicious that rigging is taking place.   There is also some concern that if the Electoral commision doesn’t get with the program and release presidential results soon,  people are going to start throwing a big fit.

We are hearing rumors of unrest taking place around town  and in other parts of the country already.  We were going to visit some friends this afternoon, but they called and told us not to come because there is some rioting on the main roads to where they stay.  We have also heard that there are other problems in town as well.   None of the media sources are reporting anything like this yet, but we will have to wait and see.

Where we live should be ok.  It is in a residential area far away from the focus of where people might cause problems.  It just means we are going to have to sit tight and pray that in general things stay calm and that the final results are issued.