WINNER DECLARED IN KENYAN ELECTION

Early this morning Uhuru Kenyatta was named the winner of the Kenyan presidential election.  He avoided a second round runoff with Raila Odinga by 4700 votes.  Odinga immediately indicated that he would not accept the results and would take the issue to the Supreme Court.  He urged all of his supporters to remain peaceful and allow the court process to go forward and to put their confidence in the judiciary.

I woke early this morning hearing the beginning of a celebration and knew that Kenyatta must have been announced the winner.  We live in an area that is strongly in his favor.  I left the house at 6:15 this morning to go to the church building for our men’s prayer meeting.  Halfway there I had to turn around and go back home because the roads were blocked with thousands of people dancing in the streets, celebrating.

Riot police charge towards demonstrators as tensions rises after Uhuru Kenyatta is declared election winner.

Demonstrators chant slogans as tension rises in some areas.

A couple hours ago we received a message from the American Embassy that protests have broken out in various parts of the country and that these protests have turned violent.  At this time they seem to be isolated events and the violence does not seem to be directed at anyone. 

Kenya is deeply divided down the middle and mostly along tribal lines.  Uhuru Kenyatta and his running mate William Ruto have both been indicted by the ICC for being directly involved in the planning and financing of rape, torture, and murder during the last election.   They have denied the charges and their cases are scheduled to begin in two month time. 

There were a number of suspicious things that seemed to be happening during the counting process that have the losing side suspicious of the outcome.  I have not formed an opinion yet if there was indeed someone playing with the results or if it was just general ineptness by those in charge.

I believe that people want peace and that restraint will continue to be shown by most.  There will be some trouble spots, but if the judiciary does its job it shouldn’t spread.  The judiciary has been completely revamped since the last election; people have a lot more confidence in it then before and should be willing to let them handle the discrepancy –  this is our hope and prayer.

Please continue to pray for us and the people of Kenya.

ELECTION UPDATE

Please continue to pray for the Kenyan election.  They have been counting the votes for 72 hours and we still do not know who has won.  Officially they have released the count for about half of the vote. 

At this time Uhuru Kenyatta has a lead of about 400,000 votes over Raila Odinga.  Odinga’s party has already issued a complaint and has asked the vote count to stop because of irregularities. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/kenyan-presidential-hopeful-calls-for-halt-to-vote-counting-says-process-lacks-integrity /article9444446/

Honestly, it is hard to know exactly what is going on. There has been a few suspicious things happen that has caused some to ask a lot of questions.  It seems that regardless of the outcome we are in for some tense days ahead.

The Kenyan people have been very patient and for the most part peace has prevailed throughout the country.  However, the longer the results are delayed the greater the chance people will start to believe the rumors which will in turn cause the tension to rise.

Some have asked who I would like to win. The truth is I do not believe either of these men would be good for Kenya.  Kenyatta and his running mate, Ruto, have both been indicted by the international court for crimes against humanity.  Indications are that they were major players in the past election violence.  Odinga, in my opinion, is tainted by corruption and by the violence in the last election.

We thank you for your prayers and concern and ask that you continue to pray!

It's Election Time

Kenyans go to the poll today to elect their next president.  They will be choosing from eight candidates, two of whom are immensely popular.  If all goes well we expect to know the outcome within 24 hours.

Our prayers are for peace.  The last election was peaceful the day of the election and did not turn deadly until the results were being announced and the perception became that the results were being tampered.

Kenya has a new constitution that came into effect two years ago.  One of the main reasons for the new constitution was to try and minimize the possibility of rigged elections.  Under this new constitution the winner must have at least 50% of the vote.  Because of the number of candidates, it is very good possibility that none of them will receive the 50% needed.  If this is the case then we will have another election in one month’s time with the two who had the most votes.

I do not see us having widespread violence during this round of voting.  I have not seen the animosity among people during this election period, as we had last time. We will have some isolated cases of trouble, but do not believe it will spread.  However, elections in Africa always have the potential of turning deadly and we do ask for your prayers during these next few days.

If there is a second round of voting next month, I believe that at that time the potential for trouble will be much greater, but still do not perceive that it will reach the magnitude of the last election.

Thank you for your prayers for us and the people of Kenya.