Opposition favoured as Kenyans vote to replace arap Moi

Both candidates are promising to usher in a new era to this once prosperous nation that is plagued by rampant corruption and an ailing economy.

Peter Njeri, a 64-year-old farmer in the lush green hills of Gatundu South constituency 25 miles north of Nairobi where Kenyatta is seeking the parliamentary seat obligatory for his presidential bid, was the first to cast his ballot when the polling station opened at 6:10 am, shortly after sunrise.

Kenyatta, the candidate hand-picked by Moi as the standard-bearer of the ruling party, cast his ballot nearly two hours later, saying voters would choose him “because they need a new beginning, a new start, a break from the past.”

Five hours after the polls opened, there were no reports of serious violence, and the cities and towns were quiet because Friday was declared an official holiday.

Official results are not expected until Sunday or Monday, but unofficial indications of the trend in presidential voting were expected by early Saturday as first returns trickled in to elections headquarters in Nairobi.

As vice president, Moi took over in 1978 after the death of Kenya’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta – Uhuru’s father. The ruling Kenya African National Union Party, or KANU, has run the country since independence from Britain in 1963.

Although three other men are contesting the presidency, Kenyatta and Kibaki - who are both members of the Kikuyu, Kenya’s largest tribe – are the only ones with a realistic chance of winning.

Kenyatta is Moi’s hand-picked choice, but at 41 and with just a year in government, he is a political novice who has never won elective office.

Kibaki is a 71-year-old political veteran who was Moi’s vice president from 1978 to 1988. He has been a leading opposition figure since multiparty politics were reintroduced in 1991, and came second to Moi in 1997 elections in which the opposition was divided along tribal lines.

Yet both claim to represent change Kenyatta argues that he represents a new generation of leaders, while Kibaki says his opposition alliance, the National Rainbow Coalition, or Narc, can right the wrongs of the past 39 years of government under Kanu.

Kenya boasts East Africa’s largest and most important economy and has remained stable while most of its neighbours – Sudan, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia – have been plagued by civil conflicts.

But in recent years its economy has hit rock bottom, largely because of corruption and government mismanagement that has scared off foreign investors and caused international lending institutions and donors to suspend assistance to the cash-strapped country.

More than half of Kenya’s 30 million people live on less than 65p a day, few have access to water and electricity and unemployment is rife.

Both Kanu and Narc know most Kenyans blame Moi and his ruling party’s patronage-based style of government for their country’s troubles.

Narc leaders talk as if they have already won a recent poll, which was commissioned by the Washington-based International Republican Institute, gave Kibaki a 47 point lead over Kenyatta.

“The recovery of our great country now rests with us. The public mood for change is evident,” said Raila Odinga, a leading member of Narc.

Many voters seemed to agree as they cast their ballots.

“We want to make change ... The Kanu government has ruined the country,” said Joel Opiayo, a 37-year-old security guard who supports a wife and four children on €35a month. He lives in Kibera, the largest slum in eastern Africa.

Some 10.5 million people are registered to vote for president, 210 members of parliament and 2,104 local councillors at 18,366 polling stations.

Elections in 1992 and 1997 were marred by politically motivated ethnic violence and allegations of vote-rigging, but the run up to this year’s vote has been comparatively peaceful.