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.