Amandla! magazine | Issue 84

INTERNATIONAL

By Nicholas Mwangi

O

N 5TH SEPTEMBER 2022, THE

Supreme Court of Kenya upheld

President William Ruto’s victory

in the recently concluded general

election that was held on 9th August.

Ruto’s main competitor, Raila Odinga,

stood as the candidate of the Azimio La

Umoja One Kenya Coalition. They had

disputed the results announced by the

Independent Electoral and Boundaries

Commission (IEBC) on 15th August. Raila

cited irregularities by Commission

Chairperson Wafula Chebukati.

Chebukati was also abandoned by

four other commissioners just before the

announcement of the presidential results.

They criticised the opaque nature of the

final presidential tally.

Azimio La Umoja Coalition then

moved to the Supreme Court of Kenya,

asking the court to declare the process

null and void. They argued that there was

technological interference with the forms

uploaded to the Commission’s portal.

However, in its ruling, the Supreme Court,

through Chief Justice Martha Koome,

dismissed all of the seven petitions

submitted, due to insufficient evidence

from the petitioners.

The court also criticised the four

commissioners, saying that it had taken

notice of the fact that they actively

participated in the tallying and verification

exercise from the beginning, until just

before the declaration of the results by the

IEBC Chairperson.

Elections largely peaceful...

The following day, the four commissioners

welcomed the verdict, agreeing to respect

the court’s ruling and the commission

of which they are part. International

Observers, including the East Africa

Community (EAC), the Intergovernmental

Authority on Development (IGAD), the

Commonwealth, and the African Union

(AU) also praised the IEBC for conducting a

credible election.

The entire election period saw

Kenyans remain calm and peaceful; the

memories of the 2007-08 post-election

violence always create tensions whenever a

general election nears.

...but participation was poor

However, the 2022 election registered one

of the lowest turn-outs in the last 15 years

of Kenyan elections. Only 65 percent of the

22.12 million registered voters turned up to

cast their ballots. Voter apathy was mainly

among the youth below 35 years who are

70% of the Kenyan population.

Kenya headed to these elections with

the cost of living at a historic high, and

with a legion of corruption cases under the

government of President Uhuru Kenyatta.

In this context, the state had an uphill task

to mobilise voters who were not convinced

there would be any change, regardless of

who became president.

President Uhuru had publicly

declared his backing for Raila Odinga while

William Ruto was still his deputy in the

government.

Poverty, climate change

and inequality

Prior to the August general elections,

hundreds of Kenyans from informal

settlements were organised by grassroots

activists, under the slogan Njaa (Hunger)

Revolution. They took to the streets in

demonstrations against food prices and

basic commodities that had become

unaffordable. Millions of Kenyans were

going to sleep hungry, while a few were

fighting for political power to enrich

themselves.

Elections in a bourgeois democracy

more often than not offer illusions of

choice. They create a false consciousness

among the working class that somehow

they own the process to power, and

perhaps it’s not just a ruling class affair.

With neoliberal capitalism in crisis, it has

become difficult to defend its discourse.

Liberal democracy seems to have hit a

dead end and there is no reappraisal for it

anytime soon.

The future of capitalism is bleak

in Kenya. Poverty, climate change and

inequality are some of the contradictions

that cannot be resolved. Maybe the working

class, consciously or unconsciously, have

understood the fact that the ballot does

not bring any significant change. The

previous regime of Uhuru Kenyatta failed

completely to deliver on its promises of

improving the lives of the ordinary masses.

The result of this was that the majority of

Kenyans did not believe in the manifestos

of either William Ruto or Raila Odinga.

The candidates

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga

was once a detainee in the era of the Moi

dictatorship in the 80s. He is respected

among progressives in Kenya and

celebrated for his role in the second

liberation struggle, in the fight for multi-

party democracy. It was also his fifth

attempt at winning the presidential seat.

In his manifesto, the former Prime

Minister had promised social welfare

EXPECT LITTLE FROM

KENYA’S ELECTIONS

The 2022 election registered one of the lowest turn-outs in the last 15 years of Kenyan elections. Only 65 percent

of the 22.12 million registered voters turned up to cast their ballots.