GETTING TO KNOW KENYA - POLITICAL NEWS
This from The New York Times:
Kenya is in a position most of Africa must envy. Its economy has been humming along, with a growth rate around 7 percent and a billion-dollar-a-year tourism industry. The country is at peace, which is nothing to sneeze at in a neighborhood that includes war-racked Somalia, Sudan and Congo.
Today, there is also a free press, 2,548 candidates running for Parliament and genuine issues separating the leading parties, like strong central government versus federalism. Electoral politics here are not saddled by the deep cynicism that dogs Nigeria, Africa’s most populous democracy, or the one-party rule of South Africa, the continent’s most developed country.
Kenya’s budding democracy is a far cry from the state of things just a decade ago, when it was still under the grip of President Daniel Arap Moi, who has been widely criticized as a dictator.
On Dec. 27, Kenyans went to the polls to choose a president. The contest pitted the incumbent, Mwai Kibaki, a man who has a reputation as a courtly gentleman and economics whiz but also as a tribal politician, against Raila Odinga, a rich, flamboyant businessman who rides around in a bright red $100,000 Hummer and ran as a champion of the poor. Mr. Kibaki centered his campaign on education, having already delivered on his promise of free primary school education for all Kenyans.
But for all the country’s success, there is a strong undercurrent of frustration, which Mr. Odinga has tapped. He has campaigned on devolving power from the center of the country and granting Kenya’s rural areas more autonomy. He has also explicitly challenged the balance of power between the country’s ethnic groups. Kenya’s 37 million people are split among some 40 ethnic groups. Mr. Odinga, a member of the Luo tribe, has charged that the Kikuyus, whose members include both Mr. Mbaki and the country’s founder, Jomo Kenyatta, have long gotten more than its fair share of government benefits.— Jeffrey Gettleman, Dec. 28, 2007
