One hundred days to go before the national elections in Kenya and among media and social networks that's all people talk about. Every morning the candidates for the individual county governments, the diatribes that broke out after the primaries carried out by the coalitions, the race to grab a place of power, are on the agenda.
All this is accompanied by very few programs, fewer promises than in the past, feeble hopes of a real change that could affect the majority of the population, the poor people. But there you have it, Kenya is like that and hope for its citizens (fortunately) never dies and this year is embodied by the "baba" Raila Odinga, the grandfather of all, champion of the people because he has always been in opposition, and the self-made-man William Ruto, the unscrupulous man who would like to put an end to the decades-long dominance of the Kenyan oligarchies and the Kenyatta, Odinga and Moi families.
Meanwhile, a little more than three months after August 9, the two candidates for the presidency of the Republic have not yet chosen (as should have already happened) their deputies. The Electoral Commission IEBC had given as deadline April 28, the date by which the names of their respective allies had to be communicated. Both contenders, Ruto and Odinga, asked for a postponement. A new final date was then granted, the next May 16.
This shows what confusion reigns in the two camps, and also that this year it is more important the political weight (read the favors of the lobbies) rather than the tribal logic. Looking at it optimistically, it is possible to think that these elections do not run the risk of bloody feuds between different ethnic groups, because both in the great alliance that includes the current president Kenyatta (Kikuyu) and the candidate premier Odinga (Luo) and has among its ranks Kalonzo Musyoka (Kamba) and in that of Ruto (Kalenjin), who could choose as deputy Musalia Mudavadi (Luhya), there are exponents of all ethnic groups. Among other things, it was Kalenjin and Luhya who, in 2007, gave rise to the most terrible violence in the country.
From today, one hundred days before the elections, we begin an introduction to these important, in many ways unprecedented elections, with a journey in installments in the political reality of Kenya and its background. We begin with an overview of the previous six elections.
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