Kenya: Candidates Wait For Voters To Declare Verdict
December 26, 2007

The campaigns are finally over and politicians have retreated to wait for the 14.2 million voters to determine their fate Thursday.

PNU, ODM and ODM Kenya leaders were Tuesday categorical that they had fought their political battle in rallies and time for the public verdict had come.

In what has been called the most competitive General Election since Kenya's independence in 1963, President Kibaki of PNU faces the toughest challenge from Mr Raila Odinga of ODM and Mr Kalonzo Musyoka of ODM-K.

President Kibaki and Mr Odinga made their final pitches to voters on Monday while Mr Musyoka wound up his campaigns last Sunday.

Preparations are complete

The Electoral Commission of Kenya, which is charged with overseeing the country's fourth multiparty elections, announced that all preparations were complete and urged the electorate to vote peacefully.

Voting materials have been dispatched to all areas, security measures are in place, and ECK officials have been well trained, according to the commission.

"The 14.2 million (plus) registered voters will have the opportunity to cast their votes on December 27, 2007, to elect leaders who will govern this country for the next five years. Polling will begin at 6am and close at 5pm," said ECK boss Samuel Kivuitu.

Speaking before leaving for Tseikuru in Mwingi where he will vote, Mr Musyoka said: "The campaigns have been a tremendous experience in my life. I know I have put up a good fight and now ask the people of Kenya to support me and ODM-K candidates and they will not regret."

PNU's presidential campaign manager George Nyamweya and ODM secretary-general Anyang' Nyong'o said that crucial to them were having polling agents, mobilising voters, having teams to deter rigging and ensuring security of voters.

Although election campaigns are officially over, the officials said they could not afford to sit back and wait for voters to get to the 28,700 polling stations Thursday.

Special teams

"The race for votes is now closed and people are back in the villages where the real voting is to take place after tomorrow (Wednesday). However, that does not mean that we have to sit here (at the PNU headquarters) and let everything take its own shape," said Mr Nyamweya.

He said they had deployed two agents in all polling stations with the sole task of preventing their rivals from rigging.

"They have been specifically trained to ensure that no one cheats. We do not want double voting like what happened during the referendum in some areas where the number of votes was higher than the registered voters," he said.

PNU, he said, had also deployed a team to patrol the peripheries of polling stations and stop bribery.

However, the most significant measure they had taken, said Mr Nyamweya, was to send special teams to constituencies where some ODM Pentagon members are vying to thwart moves to block PNU supporters from voting.

The areas are Lang'ata, Sabatia, Eldoret North and Mvita. "We have earmarked these areas because we have information that there would be some desperate people blocking our supporters from voting. Our determination is to ensure that everybody votes," said Mr Nyamweya.

He warned the public that ODM was ready to use "any means" to emerge victorious and urged voters to be vigilant to ensure that the law was followed.

However, Prof Nyong'o of ODM threw the claims back at PNU, saying that many Kenyans had shown that they were ready to vote in Mr Odinga as their president.

He challenged President Kibaki to prepare to accept defeat just like Kanu chairman Uhuru Kenyatta did in 2002.

"We are urging President Kibaki to accept the verdict of the people because they will speak very loudly against him through the ballot box on Thursday. It is more honourable to accept defeat than win an election unfairly," he said.

Reiterating that they had "credible information" on vote rigging by their rivals, Prof Nyong'o said they had deployed two agents per polling station.

The agents, he said, would be assisted by an undercover anti-rigging squad which had been extensively trained to detect any malpractices in voting.

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Source: All Africa

 
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