Youths erected roadblocks, shopkeepers nailed up windows and Kenyan riot police guarded streets before nationwide opposition protests planned for Wednesday against President Mwai Kibaki’s re-election.
Police have banned the rallies, scheduled for midday (9am GMT), and many Kenyans were staying at home for fear of trouble.
More than 600 people have died, and 250 000 been left homeless, in unrest since the December 27 vote that opposition leader Raila Odinga says was rigged.
Previous opposition protests have turned Nairobi and other major towns across the East African nation into battlegrounds, adding to a death toll mainly caused by inter-ethnic fighting.
”People are anticipating chaos and many of them will go to the rallies,” said one resident of Nairobi’s Mathare slum, where police battled protesters last week.
Kenya’s political crisis has jeopardised its democratic credentials, angered donors, driven tourists away and hurt one of Africa’s most promising economies.
Though Kibaki has been quick to entrench himself by naming a core Cabinet and convening Parliament, the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) received a boost when their candidate won the post of speaker in the assembly late on Tuesday.
Opposition members cheered and hugged each other when Kenneth Marende was named the winner after a close vote in the first sitting of the house since Kibaki’s win.
In the western opposition stronghold of Kisumu, Odinga supporters in crowded bars toasted the parliamentary victory while they watched televised proceedings that spilled into the early hours of Wednesday.
”We are very happy,” said David Otieno, who rides a bicycle taxi. ”We are drinking and eating meat and getting ready to pour into town for a massive peace rally.”
Western pressure
Reflecting the opposition’s bitterness over last month’s presidential vote, one of their legislators swore allegiance to ”President Odinga” before being ordered to retake the oath.
Western powers and Kenya’s East African neighbours have complained of irregularities in the presidential vote count.
Thirteen donors, including the European Union and the United States, threatened in a statement on Tuesday to withdraw direct aid to the government if its commitment to ”good governance, democracy, the rule of law and human rights weakens”.
In a blow to prospects for ending the political deadlock, former UN chief Kofi Annan, who was expected to start mediation on Wednesday, delayed his mission due to illness.
”Now we do not know what will happen because we were expecting Kofi Annan to come. The opposition, especially, they wanted to show him what people are undergoing. Who are they going to show now?” said taxi-driver Peter Chege (43).
The opposition pledged to continue its anti-Kibaki struggle through international mediation, parliament, where it holds a narrow majority, and peaceful mass action.
Fearing more clashes, Kenyans packed supermarkets on Tuesday evening for supplies of milk and bread before rushing home.
In a Nairobi slum, opposition supporters taunted police patrolling the area. In Kisumu a taxi driver said his car window was smashed by youths manning a makeshift roadblock. – Reuters