Kenyans head to polls

2007-12-27 08:14

Othaya - Kenyans headed to the polls on Thursday in a presidential election that was shaping up to be the closest in this East African country's history, as President Mwai Kibaki tried to fend off a fiery opposition leader amid allegations of rigging.

Kibaki, 76, was seeking a second five-year term with a solid economic record behind him, although his pledges to stamp out graft had been seen as a failure. Opposition leader Raila Odinga, a 62-year-old former political prisoner, was trying to unseat Kibaki.

"I have not even milked my cow because today we are putting our country first," said Mary Muthoni Gikiri, who was waiting to vote at a polling station in Othaya, Kibaki's hometown some 200km from Nairobi.

Allegations of corruption - including voter intimidation and violence - had been central themes in the campaigns, with both men vowing to end the graft that had scared off foreign investment and cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

Conspiracy to rig elections

On the eve of the vote, authorities said opposition supporters had stoned three police officers to death in western Kenya, accusing them of being part of a government conspiracy to rig the elections.

Grace Kaindi, the region's police chief, said the violence started on Tuesday after about 50 officers arrived by bus in Mbita, some 500km west of the capital, Nairobi.

Kaindi said: "Word spread round about their arrival and members of the public pounced on them because they thought they were going to rig the vote."

Kenyan broadcaster KTN and Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement party had said authorities were disguising police as party agents to carry out fraud at polling stations.

Kibaki denies allegations

European Union election observers said they were aware of claims that a bus carrying ballot papers pre-marked for Kibaki had been intercepted in southwestern Kenya.

"So far this is at the level of rumours and allegations," said Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, chief EU election monitor. Kibaki had vigorously denied the allegations.

With its Indian Ocean beaches, fabled game parks and booming tourism industry, Kenya in many ways was flourishing.

The country was leading projects to link eastern Africa with Europe with a high-tech undersea telecommunications cable, and a French-led consortium recently won a bid to buy 51% of the state-owned telecommunications company.

But the benefits for Kenyans, and the attraction for foreigners, were hampered by corruption.

Kibaki ran on an anti-corruption campaign for his first term, and some Kenyans were so emboldened by his victory they started making citizen's arrests of police who demanded bribes.

But while he had been credited with helping boost this East African nation's economy, his anti-graft campaign had been seen as a failure.

- AP