Election Near & Tensions High

 

Kenya’s Election Day is Monday March 4th and tensions are running high. The American Embassy has kept us up to date and shared a preparedness plan with us. Many have already left the country.

 

Soon I will be in Rwanda visiting a dear friend and pastor. Please pray for him as he is trying to make arrangements for a much needed surgery.

  

Please pray for Kenya. Trouble has already erupted in the slums around Nairobi. Homes have been burnt to the ground and people have been killed. Kenya needs your prayers.

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Kenya's presidential election on Monday is the most important and complicated in the country's 50-year history. More than 1,000 people were killed after Kenya's 2007 vote, and political leaders, civil society groups and international governments are pressing Kenyans for no violence this time.

 

Despite the push for peace, there are many reasons why the aftermath of the vote could turn tumultuous. Here are some of the factors complicating the election:

Two of the top presidential candidates, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Prime Minister Raila Odinga face trial at the International Criminal Court,) for their alleged roles in orchestrating murder, rape and violence after the last election.

If Kenyatta wins the presidency, he may have to spend a significant portion of it in court at The Hague.

 

— A Kenyatta win will also see relations cool between Kenya and the U.S./Europe because of the ICC case.

 

If Prime Minister Raila Odinga wins the presidency and Kenyatta refuses to report to the ICC, Odinga may have to order Kenyatta's arrest, risking serious clashes between their two tribes.

— Tensions between the Kikuyus — Kenyatta's tribe — and the Luos — Odinga's tribe — have been high in Mathare, Nairobi's most dangerous slum.

— Kenya has seen more than 200 people killed in politically-connected violence in recent months in the Tana River region and Kenya's north. More violence is expected.

— Kenyan polls show the race to be tight

— The Somali militant group al-Shabab may try to disrupt the vote by attacking polling stations. The al-Qaida-linked group has threatened large-scale attacks in Kenya ever since Kenyan troops moved into Somalia in 2011.

— A secessionist group on Kenya's coast which had been quashed by the government last year is said to be recruiting new members and planning attacks on elections, according to the government-funded, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.

— More than 530,000 illegal weapons are in civilians' hands, according to the police.
By JASON STRAZIUSO and TOM ODULA | Associated Press