Speculators had also projected that whichever way it would go, Kenyans across the political divide would tear one another apart soon after the apex court ruling. Odinga petitioned the Supreme court, alleging massive rigging, multiple system hacks and bias, claiming that the odds were against him in favour of his rival, William Ruto.
The former prime minister cited technicalities of the 50 per cent plus one rule, saying Ruto’s score of 50.47 per cent fell short of the threshold required to declare anyone the outright winner in the first round.
Odinga also petitioned that IEBC failed to provide robust technology to meet standards of integrity, verifiability, security, and transparency to stave off system hacks. In a landmark judgement, the Supreme court upheld Ruto’s win, saying that the legendary politician failed to adduce credible evidence in all accounts of his petition to nullify the results.
In unanimity, the seven judges threw out Raila’s petition, paving way for Ruto’s swearing-in as the duly-elected fifth Kenyan president. Kenya is one of the countries that adhere to scheduled electoral processes, but every time it descended into chaos.
This time round, from the electioneering to voting, supreme court proceedings and ruling, and swearing-in of the new president, the process was peaceful. Poll observers in national, regional and international capacities commended the IEBC for conducting free, fair and credible elections.
The European diplomatic corps also lauded the electoral body for exhibiting high standards, which they recommended other African countries to emulate. Those commendations are not farfetched. Kenya always experienced abrasive moments that stained the country’s democratic trajectory due to the violence witnessed in previous elections.
That said, though, this year’s exercise was not without incident. An MP seeking re-election allegedly shot his rival’s aide after an altercation at a polling station. The kidnap and killing of an IEBC official, whose body was dumped at the Kenya-Tanzania border, offered nothing positive to talk about the elections.
Then a breakaway section of IEBC commissioners staging a revolt, citing opacity in their chairman’s declaration, and a scuttle at the Bomas, Kenya’s National Tallying Centre, showed an ugly side to the process.
Such events reflect an intricate path to democracy. Lessons learned in other countries also indicate that democratic trajectories dismally have nothing smooth about them. Examples of Kenya’s political processes going awry also abound.
Since the quest for self-rule, Kenya’s democratic journey has been chaotic. The Mau-Mau Uprising staged between 1952 and 1956 to resist colonial rule launched the trend. Its cataclysmic outcomes and civil disobedience influenced legislative elections in 1957 and 1963 to deliver Kenya’s independence and Jomo Kenyatta as the country’s first president, but the end was not exciting.
With President Jomo Kenyatta at the helm of the fledgling democracy, the country was plunged into chaos instead. Fallout with his vice, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, led to political suppression. Kenya African National Union merging with Daniel arap Moi’s Kenya African Democratic Union led the ruling party to dominate political space at the expense of rival parties. Kenyatta’s authoritarianism and tribalism fomented ethnic animosity between the Kikuyu and the Luo.
During his reign, heated temperatures led to mysterious murders. Pio Gama Pinto, the journalist-cum-freedom fighter, was the first political martyr assassinated soon after independence in 1965. Tom Mboya followed in 1969, and Josiah Mwangi Kariuki in 1975.
These murders, coming soon as they did, bred consternation and suspicion that, to this day, haunt Kenya. After Kenyatta died in 1978, Kenya suffered in the throes of a de facto and de jure one-party state under Daniel arap Moi. In 1992, domestic and international pressure forced political space opening to allow other parties to contest for political office. But the presidential elections that year and those in 1997 were botched.
Winning all of them, Moi was accused of fraud, prompting riots and demonstrations in which hundreds died. After serving his two terms under multiparty dispensation, Moi retired in 2002 but casting his name in stone for being the longest-serving president Kenya has ever had.
Taking from Moi, Mwai Kibaki receives credit for introducing a new constitution in 2010 on whose anvil Kenya’s democracy now rests. His progressive economic reforms and policies receive praise. But during his reign, Kenya experienced waves of political violence, the worst coming in 2007 when more than 1,100 people lost their lives as 600,000 got displaced due to disputed elections.
The contest between him and Raila Odinga produced one of the darkest moments in Kenya’s democratic trajectory. Odinga alleged mass irregularities, sparking violence. Mwai Kibaki ruled for two terms until 2012.
Elections in 2013 and 2017 almost brought the country to the brink when Odinga, yet again, contested Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory in both accounts. The two made peace in 2018, upon which President Uhuru decided to back Raila’s candidature in 2022 instead of his deputy, William Ruto.
Looking like Raila would take this year’s presidency led commentators to spell doom for Kenya if he did not. But as fate would have it, Ruto struck a chord with ordinary Kenyans, positioning himself as a hustler, having once traded chickens.
The strategy propelled him to win the presidency at his first chance of asking against the longstanding political dynasties of Kenyatta, Moi and Odinga. Such is Kenya’s elaborate story. The
constant has always been political violence at every turn of an electoral event. But Kenya always witnesses peaceful handover of one president to another despite the electoral chaos.
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