Juma Kwayera

Traditionally regarded as a Western fad, regularly conducted opinion polls have acquired phenomenal significance in Kenya, as the top two presidential candidates — President Mwai Kibaki and his main opposition challenger Raila Odinga — head for what looks like a photo-finish in the election on December 27.

Scenes of bloodshed and outright fraud characterised primary elections for the three main political parties, one of which will form the next government in Kenya after the general election set for December 27. The Party of National Unity (PNU), the Orange Democracy Movement and Orange Democratic Movement Party of Kenya, the platforms on which President Mwai Kibaki, Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka are gunning for the presidency, held primaries last weekend.

A political storm over corruption allegations in Tanzania could compel President Jakaya Kikwete to sack Prime Minister Edward Lowassa — and is already damaging the country’s standing with international donors. Tanzanian press reports in the past two months have linked Lowassa to a major financial fraud that precipitated 10 months of power-rationing last year.

A week after the Kenyan Parliament passed a law compelling journalists to disclose their sources, pressure is mounting for President Mwai Kibaki to reject the punitive legislation. The new Kenya Media Bill, which was passed last week by 27 votes instead of the mandatory 30-member quorum, has come under heavy criticism from both the industry and the public, which perceive it as a deliberate attempt to gag the media, which has openly criticised the government for corruption.

The prospect of peace in Somalia, after 16 years of violence and bloodletting, receded further this month, even as President Abdullahi Yusuf’s transitional federal government prepared to hold talks with adversaries to draw a road map to a comprehensive peace settlement. Nairobi-based international humanitarian organisations estimate that more than 2 000 people, mainly civilians, have died in the latest flare-up.