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Posted by: hyperbola 1 year, 2 months ago
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hyperbola1 year, 2 months ago
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Well Klarissa, from this we have to assume that you are in favor of stolen elections by corrupt oligarchs. Do you advocate the same in the US?
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Kenya
Election fraud and violence
While European tourists are sunbathing at the beaches of the Indian Ocean, the country is shattered by violence between the supporters of the opposition presidential candidate, Raila Odinga, and those of President Kibaki, the police and the military. The Kenyan presidential elections, on 27 December, caused the biggest riots the country has witnessed since the fall of the former dictator, Daniel arap-Moi...
In 2002, Kibaki was elected successor of former dictator Daniel arap-Moi who had ruled the country for 20 years. Many Kenyans, who longed for democratisation, less corruption and a rise of living standards, pinned their hopes on Kibaki. However, the situation for the majority did not improve. Only a small elite, surrounding the president and those controlling the commanding heights of the economy, benefited form the economic upswing, which was constantly at around 6% per year, during the last six years. The majority of Kenyans still live below the poverty line. Kibaki did nothing to stop proliferating corruption. A big part of the national budget is going to the private pockets of ministers and leading officials; the head of the national anti-corruption authority had to flee to England to protect his life. “The government’s policies in the last years were not orientated on improving the living standard of the people, but to support the economy which guarantees that only the small upper class is profiteering,” stated Walter Schicho, professor at the Africa-institute at the University of Vienna. As well as this, the Kenyan government is conducting “hidden intervention” into the Somali civil war and supports Ethiopian troops occupying Somalia....-
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hyperbola1 year, 2 months ago
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The election fraud was obvious – for Kibaki’s constituency a turnout of 99% were reported (which is nearly impossible). In another constituency, 115% of the people went to vote - another clear evidence for the massive election fraud. Unrealistically, thousands of people only voted in the presidential elections and not in the parliamentary and local elections, which were running parallel. This led to the situation where Kibaki was sworn in as president yet his party has only a small minority in the parliament, where the ODM holds the majority. It makes more sense to assume that ballot cards for Kibaki were secretly added to rather then thinking of a big confusion within the voters. Even the chairman of the national election-commission said he did not know who won the election. Later, he was put under pressure from supporters of Kibaki, and was forced to announce an election ‘victory’. The fact that Kibaki has stolen Kenyans’ right to elect their government was the main cause for riots.
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Probably the most disastrous legacy of the Kibaki-government is the intensification of ethnic conflicts in Kenya. Kibaki, an ethnic Kikuyu, gave higher posts in the public sector to candidates from his own tribe and public assignments usually went to companies owned by Kikuyu. That led to anger amongst the majority of the population against the leading figures of the Kikuyu, who have been privileged since colonial times. Governments over the last decades boosted these tensions, using “divide and rule” policies.
http://socialistworld.net/eng/2008/01/23kenyaa.htm...
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