Kenya - Politics

Several new opposition parties to the Kenya African National Union (KANU) emerged for the first multiparty elections in December 1992. They included the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD–Kenya), led by Oginga Odinga until his death in 1994, the Democratic Party led by Mwai Kibaki, and FORD–Asili led by Kenneth Matiba. A Commonwealth observer group at the elections concluded that they were flawed, but sufficiently free and fair for the results to be acceptable as the democratic will. KANU led by Daniel arap Moi won, against a divided opposition. In 1993 aid began slowly to flow again.

Despite the reforms of the early 1990s, the constitution remained the focus of political discontent, the opposition arguing that centralisation of power weakens the multiparty system. Some prominent figures within KANU were calling for the restoration of majimbo features of the independence constitution, to strengthen the rights of ethnic minorities.

In September 1997 the National Assembly approved electoral reforms that appeared to meet the opposition demands, including abolition of the anti-sedition laws that the government had used to suppress the opposition, granting equal broadcasting time to all political parties and presidential candidates, and giving the opposition representation on the Electoral Commission.

The elections in December 1997 were beset by organisational problems, flooding and violent demonstrations, and polling had to be extended for a further day. In the presidential election, Moi was re-elected with 40% of the votes, Kibaki of the Democratic Party received 31%, Raila Odinga of the National Development Party (NDP) 11%, Michael Kijana Wamalwa of FORD-Kenya 8% and Charity Kaluki Ngilu of the Social Democratic Party 8%. In the National Assembly elections, KANU took 109 of the 210 seats, the Democratic Party 39, NDP 21, FORD-Kenya 17, and Social Democratic Party 14.

In November 1999, a further constitutional amendment was enacted to reduce the powers of the president to control the National Assembly, powers that were originally introduced by Kenyatta.

In June 2001, Moi forged the country’s first governing coalition when he appointed to the cabinet two members of the opposition NDP – including Raila Odinga, son of Oginga Odinga, the country’s first vice-president and a presidential candidate in 1992, and in March 2002 the NDP was merged with KANU. However, Odinga then left KANU and formed the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and in October 2002 joined with Kibaki in the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC). In late 2001, Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of Kenya’s first president, was nominated as an MP and appointed minister, emerging in 2002 as KANU’s presidential candidate, replacing Moi, who by the end of the year would have been president for 24 years and who was bound by the constitution to stand down.

At his third attempt, in a relatively peaceful contest, Kibaki comfortably won the presidential election in December 2002, with 62.2% of the votes, while Uhuru Kenyatta received 31.3%. The National Rainbow Coalition gained a substantial majority in the parliamentary elections, winning 125 seats; KANU took 64 and FORD-People 14. The Commonwealth observer group present commended the Electoral Commission, said that the elections ‘represented a major improvement on previous such exercises’ and described the electoral process as credible.

In a referendum in November 2005 the proposed new constitution was decisively rejected. Opposition to this constitution was led by a new grouping, the ‘Orange team’, comprising Uhuru Kenyatta’s KANU and LDP, a party with members in Kibaki’s cabinet. Kibaki then dismissed his cabinet. When in December he formed a new cabinet he excluded opponents of the new constitution (mainly LDP members) and included members of minority parties to shore up support for his government.

In 2007, when elections were due, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) led by Raila Odinga and Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya (ODM-K) led by Kalonzo Musyoka emerged as the main opponents to Mwai Kibaki and his newly formed coalition, the Party of National Unity (PNU). The PNU included notably KANU which had earlier left the Orange team, FORD-Kenya, NARC-Kenya (an offshoot of NARC) and several smaller parties. Tensions were high in the pre-election period, with outbreaks of violence.

Following a relatively peaceful polling day on 27 December 2007, the Orange team decisively won the parliamentary elections; ODM took 99 seats and its partner NARC three. The ruling PNU took 43 seats and its coalition partners 35 seats. Of the remaining constituencies declared, ODM-K won in 16 and independents in 11. A re-run was ordered in the three undeclared constituencies.

Unofficial results of the presidential election indicated Raila Odinga led Kibaki by at least 200,000 votes and the absence of any official declaration provoked widespread unrest in the country. When in late January 2008 the Electoral Commission published results, Kibaki was ahead with 4,584,721 votes, then Odinga with 4,352,993 and Musyoka with 879,903. Commonwealth observers noted that the elections were ‘the most competitive in the country’s history’ but raised doubts on the handling of the final stages of the presidential election, particularly the delay in announcing the results.

Protests about the presidential election results erupted and intensified in a period that became one of the most violent since independence and hundreds of people were killed. Some of the violence assumed an ethnic dimension with the Kikuyu perceived as pro-Kibaki and the Luo as Odinga supporters. The opposing leaders eventually agreed to work together in a power-sharing coalition government with Kibaki as president and Odinga as prime minister. The agreement was brokered by a group of eminent persons led by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In March 2008 the National Assembly enacted a law to formalise the deal. Odinga subsequently became prime minister in a grand coalition government.