It is not my fault that Conant never completed his guest blog post. Some people just don’t have any respect for deadlines… Now I am going to have to explain Kenyan politics and I just don’t know if I am qualified to do that (Conant is a government major and reads the Kenyan newspaper way more than I do therefore he is qualified).
Here is a quick summary: In Kenya’s last election year (2007-08) thousands of people were killed and displaced because of disputes over whether the voting was rigged, an issue that really speaks to the multitude of historical injustices over land ownership and political corruption that exist in Kenya. This year there is a new constitution along with a reformed justice system that should ensure that any election conflicts are resolved in the courts rather than in the streets. However no one can be sure whether all the recent changes in Kenya’s political system will be effective in terms of eliminating election violence completely. In my opinion the real issue here is that neither of the two leading candidates are going to be real reformers (and one of them is currently being charged by the ICC for crimes against humanity) but it doesn’t even matter because most Kenyans are just going to vote along tribal lines anyway. Which is another problem altogether.
All in all this is Kenya’s most important election since independence because it is a huge test of the nation’s democracy and new constitution. There is also a definite possibility of a run-off election between the two leading candidates that is slated for April. No matter what happens, Kenya is about to get really exciting! Which is why tomorrow morning we leave for 2 weeks in Tanzania. Since we will be mostly camping and safari-ing and living with one of the last functioning hunter-gatherer communities on this planet I will not have internet.
…And if Kenya erupts into a civil war I may never come back. So here’s to hoping for a free, fair, and peaceful election!
Go Abroad with Ally 