Thursday, 7 March 2013
07 March 3pm
Have been in touch with Judy and Coralis and they are in their dispensaries carrying on as usual. They are really remarkable women. I've been around town and it's about the same as yesterday...some tension and some shops open but not as many as usual. A couple of hours ago Musyoka, the VP for Raila, held a press conference, alleged there was rigging and called for the counting to stop. The returns up to that point were still showing Uhuru ahead by about the same amount as yesterday. I'll go to Mass in the evening and see if anything has changed.
Wednesday, 6 March 2013
06 March 3pm
Have just returned from Mass at the Cathedral. Not many people were there and while there were some people on the streets and shops open it is less than normal. The voting returns in the presidential election have slowed down and people are wondering why. There is more tension and more talk that the process is not proceeding properly. Coralis is fine in the clinic in Kikambala. Judy went to the clinic in Bangala and only one other staff, the clinical officer, came to work. They have seen 16 sick patients but decided not to do the vaccination clinic because of short staffing. I am working on my financial reports for last year...very boring but necessary to account for all the money we received and spent.
Tuesday, 5 March 2013
05 March 2pm
Our neighborhood is very quiet. The polling was extended last night to allow anyone in the polling station at 5pm to vote. Bangala finished voting at 9pm by gas lights. People waited for hours in the scorching sun...this one of the hottest months in Mombasa. Sr. Pauline left her house at 5:45am and didn't get home until 3pm. There were problems with electronic voting as some places the batteries ran out and if the station didn't have power and a cord to hook up to it they had to use manual procedures. Women with babies were allowed to move up in line but when some women started 'borrowing' babies to take advantage of the perk the officials required the women to breast feed their baby.
The trouble in Mombasa on Sunday night was a very serious coordinated attack in three places (Likoni, Miritini and Kilifi) to disrupt the voting process. The Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) has been accused of trying to stop people from voting. They want the coast to secede from Kenya. There was a huge number of people (hundreds) who overwhelmed the police who were trying to distribute voting material the night before the elections. Some very senior police officials were killed. We know a woman who lives in Miritini and she heard the shooting at night time. But she got up at 5am to vote and her home has been peaceful since then.
I am so impressed with the committment and peacefulness of the people who voted. The questions now are two:
1. Will someone win in the first round of voting?
2. If someone wins will it be accepted peacefully?
Judy and I are at home today and Coralis is in the clinic at Kikambala. We are all fine.
The trouble in Mombasa on Sunday night was a very serious coordinated attack in three places (Likoni, Miritini and Kilifi) to disrupt the voting process. The Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) has been accused of trying to stop people from voting. They want the coast to secede from Kenya. There was a huge number of people (hundreds) who overwhelmed the police who were trying to distribute voting material the night before the elections. Some very senior police officials were killed. We know a woman who lives in Miritini and she heard the shooting at night time. But she got up at 5am to vote and her home has been peaceful since then.
I am so impressed with the committment and peacefulness of the people who voted. The questions now are two:
1. Will someone win in the first round of voting?
2. If someone wins will it be accepted peacefully?
Judy and I are at home today and Coralis is in the clinic at Kikambala. We are all fine.
Monday, 4 March 2013
04 March 9pm
All is quiet in our neighborhood. Those who were still in the polling stations at 5pm will be allowed to vote. Bangala still has 2-300 people to vote by gas lamps but all is calm there. Our electricity has been off and on three times today but it seems it's a problem with a transformer next door that has occurred before. At the moment we have lights and all is well.
04 March 2pm
The voting has started but many stations were late in opening. We went to Mass at 7am and our neighborhood is quiet. There has been a report by the Chief of Police in Kenya that an ambush occurred in Mombasa killing 6 police officers, one of whom was the OCPD (Officer in Charge of the Police Department) and 6 attackers. They have flown re-inforcments to Mombasa.
It is not clear exactly where the attack occurred or who caused the attack. There are many rumors.
One of the parishes, St. Patrick's in Bangaladesh slum where Judy works in the clinic, reports that the voting started late, 10:30am, because of these problems. It is taking people about 5 minutes to vote and they can have about 96 people per hour vote according to the lines they have set up. There are 3000 registered voters in Bangala so that would require 31 hours for everyone to be able to vote. People were standing in lines from 5am and the sun is very hot. The stations are suppose to close at 5:30pm.
Judy and I are at home and our neighborhood is quiet.
It is not clear exactly where the attack occurred or who caused the attack. There are many rumors.
One of the parishes, St. Patrick's in Bangaladesh slum where Judy works in the clinic, reports that the voting started late, 10:30am, because of these problems. It is taking people about 5 minutes to vote and they can have about 96 people per hour vote according to the lines they have set up. There are 3000 registered voters in Bangala so that would require 31 hours for everyone to be able to vote. People were standing in lines from 5am and the sun is very hot. The stations are suppose to close at 5:30pm.
Judy and I are at home and our neighborhood is quiet.
Sunday, 3 March 2013
03 March 2013
Greetings on this last 'normal' day before the Kenyan elections. Things will certainly change no matter what happens. One good thing is that President Kibaki will still be the president even if the elections are contested by the candidates. In 2007 it was unclear who the president really was and that caused lots of problems. Also, Kenya has new Chief Justice and many people see him as a person of integrity who will be able to address legal questions that arise.
"Kenya remains the anchor state and the geopolitical pivot of the East African Community" according to a well known economist. It means that whatever happens in Kenya will have repercussions in the surrounding countries, especially those like S. Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, who depend on the port in Mombasa for commerce.
"The elections will just be the beginning of a long and difficult process for Kenyans". The country will be instituting a new form of government which will devolve power from the center to the 47 counties. This will require financing without undermining national development. It could be that people with ancestral inheritance in these counties will want to control all the government and development and exclude ethnic migrants. It could lead to increased negative ethnicity and weaken national cohesion.
One statistic that has really surprised me is the number of women in the parliaments of these countries. Rwanda leads with 56%, then Tanzania 36%, then Uganda 35%, then Burundi 30% and lastly Kenya with only 9.8%.
In order to win a candidate has to get 50% +1 of the popular vote and 25% of the votes in 24 of 47 counties. It is unlikely that will happen tomorrow which would mean that campaigning will continue with the two top candidates until a run off election on April 11th. For the moment all is calm here in Mombasa and we hope and pray it stays that way!!!
"Kenya remains the anchor state and the geopolitical pivot of the East African Community" according to a well known economist. It means that whatever happens in Kenya will have repercussions in the surrounding countries, especially those like S. Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, who depend on the port in Mombasa for commerce.
"The elections will just be the beginning of a long and difficult process for Kenyans". The country will be instituting a new form of government which will devolve power from the center to the 47 counties. This will require financing without undermining national development. It could be that people with ancestral inheritance in these counties will want to control all the government and development and exclude ethnic migrants. It could lead to increased negative ethnicity and weaken national cohesion.
One statistic that has really surprised me is the number of women in the parliaments of these countries. Rwanda leads with 56%, then Tanzania 36%, then Uganda 35%, then Burundi 30% and lastly Kenya with only 9.8%.
In order to win a candidate has to get 50% +1 of the popular vote and 25% of the votes in 24 of 47 counties. It is unlikely that will happen tomorrow which would mean that campaigning will continue with the two top candidates until a run off election on April 11th. For the moment all is calm here in Mombasa and we hope and pray it stays that way!!!
Friday, 1 March 2013
1st March
All is quiet here except for the blaring music that continues to travel around on the vehicles for the politicians. Mary and the Kluegs went to Nairobi on the train last night and had a good trip arriving safely this morning. The country seems pretty divided and this is what I am hearing:
1. The elections will take time since there are 6 ballots to fill out and many people aren't well versed in how to do it. Some one just told me that the Constitution says that the only person who can extend the elections is the chairman of the Independent Board of the Electoral Commission and voting can't extend for more than one day
2. People are saying that they want this over with in one vote because it is disrupting schools, business and life in general. So people are advising others to vote for one of the two top candidates and hope that one of them wins outright.
3. Most people think there will be peace for the most part and that where there is trouble will be in small pockets, maybe not having anything to do with the elections. There are always those that want to take advantage of the situation.
A friend just sent me a message saying that this is Women's World Day of Prayer and his calender says, "When sleeping women awake mountains will move". With men like that I think we could really make the world a better place!
1. The elections will take time since there are 6 ballots to fill out and many people aren't well versed in how to do it. Some one just told me that the Constitution says that the only person who can extend the elections is the chairman of the Independent Board of the Electoral Commission and voting can't extend for more than one day
2. People are saying that they want this over with in one vote because it is disrupting schools, business and life in general. So people are advising others to vote for one of the two top candidates and hope that one of them wins outright.
3. Most people think there will be peace for the most part and that where there is trouble will be in small pockets, maybe not having anything to do with the elections. There are always those that want to take advantage of the situation.
A friend just sent me a message saying that this is Women's World Day of Prayer and his calender says, "When sleeping women awake mountains will move". With men like that I think we could really make the world a better place!
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