On 27 December, 2007, Kenyan citizens took to the polls for the fourth time since multiparty democracy was introduced in 1992. The sentiment was that democracy was finally coming of age in this East African country. For many, these elections represented a turn in the country’s democratic process that would bring change in the areas of justice, food, shelter, education and employment to all – as these were the main campaign promises. Instead, at the conclusion of the voting and at the beginning of the tallying process, the electorate erupted violently at the suspicion and eventual reporting of the process being rigged. One of the main subjects discussed in this study includes the argument that Kenya is ailing from a lack of responsible political leadership. The breed of Kenyan politicians that have been experienced in the country since it gained its independence from British colonialists in 1963, have plundered its resources – material and human – to the brink of war. It is no longer a valid argument that Africa, just because of a history of governments looting and plundering the vast resources that belong to the world’s poorest of the poor, in particular Kenya produces bad leaders. The second topic of discussion in this study questions the role of ethnic mobilisation during the elections. It is well documented by authors such as Cowen and Kanyinga (in Cowen and Laakso (eds.) 2002: 128-171) that ethnicity in Kenya, under the machinations of irresponsible political leaders, has in the past played a critical part in rallying one political party against another. The 2007 General Election was no different. The contested presidential election results were announced on 30 December, 2007, declaring another term of office for the incumbent president, Mwai Kibaki. Since that announcement, thousands of people were reported dead while hundreds of thousands were considered displaced. The chaos was followed by a long mediation process kicked off with the AU chairman, John Kufuor, president of Ghana, hosting a number of talks between the two parties. However, this did not bear much fruit as the two conflicting parties could not agree on the main issue of the creation of a position of Prime Minister for Raila Odinga to 7 fill. This was then followed by a more successful mediation process hosted by the Elders1 including former United Nations (UN) secretary general, Kofi Annan, Graça Maçhel and Benjamin Mkapa, as indicated by The Daily Nation newspapers throughout the month of January 2008. It is with this background that the study will now turn to the discussion about the context of the research, its objectives, rationale, motivation and the research design
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:8170 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Wanjiru, Stephanie M |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Arts |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, MPhil |
| Format | v, 102 leaves : ports., 1 map ; 31 cm, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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