Unbowed: The Connection to Kenya’s
Presidential Election
January 29, 2008 Mira Loma‟s Community Read
To what extent does Wangari
Maathai’s memoir, Unbowed,
connect with last month’s
presidential election?
• Brief background and visual essay of:
– Kenya’s people
– Kenya’s government
– Kenya’s presidential election
KENYA
Uhuru Park
urban encroachment
DEMOGRAPHICS
• Population: ~ 37 million people
• Under 15 years of age: 42%
• Median Age: 18.6 years
• Growth Rate : 2.8% population
– Population will double in about 40 years
• HIV/AIDS: ~ 1.2 million people
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ke.html
Kenya is a country of great
ethnic diversity.
• Ethnic groups
– Kikuyu 23%, Kalenjin 11%, Meru 5%,
– Luhya 14%, Kamba 10%, Maasai 1.8%,
– Luo 13%, Kisii 6%, Turkana 1.5%,
– Embu 1.2%,
– other African (including Somali, Taita, Swahili, Samburu, Pokomo,
Giriama, Rabai, Duruma, Chonyi, Digo, Kauma, Orma, Oromo
Wasanye, Wanyoyaya, Borana, Rendille, El Moran, Malakote, Teso,
Gabra, Ndorobo) 15%,
– non-African (Asian/Desi, Anglo-African/European, and Arab) 1%.
• Religious affiliation
– Protestant and Quaker 45%,
– Roman Catholic 25%,
– Islam 10%,
– Traditional Religions 10%.
– Others include Hinduism, Sikhism,Jainism and the Bahá'í Faith.
ECONOMIC DEMOGRAPHICS
• GDP - $57.65 billion (2007 est.)
– Sacramento - $66.75 billion (2001)
• GDP per capita $1,600 (192/230 ranking)
• Unemployment 40%
• Poverty Rate 50%
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ke.html
Government
• Republic of Kenya
• Constitution with three branches of
government
– Unicameral legislature
• Universal suffrage; 18 years of age
Kenya’s Voters
• Registered Voters: ~14.3 million
• % of Eligible Voters: ~82%
• Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK)
President
• Chief of state and head of government
– Jomo Kenyatta (1963 – 1978)
– Daniel arap Moi (1978 – 2002)
– Mwai Kibaki (2002 – present)
Jomo Kenyatta
• “…but it was the voice of President
Kenyatta. He was urging us to return to
the countryside and create wealth from
the land… „Here I am Mr. President! I‟m
back and ready to join in the building of
our free country.‟ I felt a deep sense of
pride at being a Kenyan.”
~Wangari Maathai, 99
Tom Mboya – Minister of Economic Planning
and Development
• “Mboya was a member of the Luo community
(Kenya’s second largest ethnic group) and
had been seen as the successor to Kenyatta.
His [assassination,] supposedly at the hands
of a Kikuyu, roiled the country and has since
caused much distrust and suspicion between
the two communities. Kenyatta banned the
Kenya People’s Union and arrested its
leader, Oginga Odinga.” ~Maathai, 111-112
Wangari Maathai
• Release Political Prisoners mothers protest
in 1992-1993 at All Saints Cathedral:
• “The church became a center of
pilgrimage. Many political figures from
the pro-democracy movement, including
Mwai Kibaki, Oginga Odinga and his son
Raila … came and expressed their
solidarity with the mothers…”
~Maathai, 225
2002 Election
• “This spirit was captured at Uhuru Park –
the scene of so many of my struggles –
where tens of thousands of citizens
celebrated…as KANU fell…to watch
President Moi handing over the instruments
of power to the newly elected President
Kibaki. It was a moment for which people
had been waiting for decades, and no
words can describe how wonderful it felt.”
~Maathai, 288
Uhuru Park
• Kibaki’s Inauguration - 2002
Uhuru Park
“I stood on the platform only a few yards from the
presidents. President Kibaki had been seriously injured
in a car crash only a few weeks before, and I could see
how his physical pain mixed with joy as he fulfilled his
lifelong dream to be president. I was overwhelmed.”
Maathai, 288-289
Presidential Election
December 27, 2007
• In order to win the Presidency:
– Simple Majority
– 25% of the vote in at least 5 of the 8
provinces
– Election to parliament
• Nine parties fielded presidential
candidates
http://kenyavotes.org/docs/Kenya_2007_Final_Preliminary_Statement.pdf
State House
General Election - 2007
• 210 members of the National Assembly
– 117 parties fielded 2,547 candidates
• 2,498 civic seats
– 117 parties fielded 15,331 candidates
http://kenyavotes.org/docs/Kenya_2007_Final_Preliminary_Statement.pdf
Kenya’s Political Parties
• KANU – Kenya African National Union
• KPU – Kenyan People‟s Party
• FORD – Forum for the Restoration of
Democracy - Kenya
• NDP – National Development Party
• PNU – Party of National Unity
• ODM – Orange Democratic
Movement
• http://kenyavotes.org/homepage
PNU
candidate
President
Mwai
Kibaki and
his wife,
Lucy
Kibaki Supporters
PNU Rally
ODM candidate
Raila
Odinga
and
his
wife
Ida
Odinga
Supporters
ODM Rally
Voting Lines
NATIONAL RESULTS
• NAME VOTES PARTY
• MWAI KIBAKI 3,270,433 PNU
• RAILA ODINGA 3,230,063 ODM
• STEPHEN MUSYOKA 413,296 ODM-K
• JOSEPH NGACHAKARANI 14,232 KPTP
• PIUS MUIRUMWANGI 5,662 KPP
• NAZLIN FAZALDINRAJPUT 4,868 WCP
• KENNETH NJINDOMATIBA 4,561 SSA
• DAVID WAWERU NGETHE 3,941 CCU
• NIXON JEREMIAH KUKUBO 3,769 RPK
“Democracy
does not
solve
problems.”
Maathai, 289
Donald Rumsfeld
• "Freedom's untidy, and free people are free
to make mistakes and commit crimes and
do bad things." –on looting in Iraq after the
U.S. invasion, adding "stuff happens"
Links:
• Green Belt Movement:
– http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/
• Electoral Commission of Kenya
– http://www.eck.or.ke/elections2007/
• Kenya Votes
– http://kenyavotes.org/homepage
• CIA World Factbook
– https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the
-world-factbook/geos/ke.html
Barack and Michelle Obama
with Wangari Maathai in Nairobi
Odinga Obama Cheney
COUSINS