Kenya was given its first new government since independence yesterday when the opposition leader Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner by a landslide of Friday’s general election.
Panicked by an angry crowd of Kibaki’s supporters, the electoral commission made the announcement late yesterday, before all the returns were in.
”The electoral commission declares Mwai Kibaki the president of Kenya,” its chairman, Samuel Kivuitu, said, after pleading with Kibaki’s supporters to be patient.
”Provisional figures indicate that Mwai Kibaki is ahead of the next presidential candidate, Uhuru Kenyatta, by a very wide margin. It is not possible that the margin can be eliminated.”
At that, the hundreds of people crowding Kivuitu’s Nairobi office began shouting in celebration.
Shortly before the announcement Kenyatta had conceded victory to his rival. ”We admit that Mwai Kibaki is the third president of this great republic of Kenya,” he said, looking weary among a crowd of rowdy sympathisers.
With all but 18 of the 210 constituencies reporting, the 71-year-old Kibaki had 63% of the vote, according to the Institute for Education in Democracy (IED), an election watchdog. Kenyatta – the 42-year-old son of Jomo, Kenya’s independence leader – had 30%.
Kibaki’s National Rainbow Coalition, which comprises more than 10 opposition parties and several defectors from President Daniel arap Moi’s Kanu party, captured 122 of the constituencies; Kanu won 52; the rest are shared by several smaller parties.
Three of Kanu’s vice-chairmen, including the outgoing vice-president, Musalia Mudavadi, lost their seats, along with all but three ministers.
The IED said 56% of the 10.5m registered voters had turned out.
Victory for Kibaki had seemed certain since the results began trickling in early on Saturday. But many Kenyans suspected that President Moi, who is retiring after 24 years in power, would intervene on behalf of Kenyatta, his chosen successor.
At a brief press conference Kibaki promised to tackle the corruption that has flourished under Moi. Reiterating a campaign pledge, he said his ministers would declare their wealth, and that long-mothballed anti-corruption bills would be passed.
”First and foremost, my priority will be to tackle corruption and we shall start as leaders by showing our wealth, and as soon as parliament reconvenes we shall bring and pass the law which shall establish the anti-corruption authority,” he said
In a final dig at the autocratic Moi, he promised not to interfere with his ministers’ work. ”We do not want a president whose job is to bully others,” he said. ”The president will leave the ministers to do their job.” – Guardian Unlimited Â