Miraculous election turnaround for Kenya

Tororo, Uganda—In this town 8km from the Kenyan border, all eyes today were on the Kenyan presidential election. The attention here isn’t so much on the result, but rather on whether this election will mimic the violent 2007 one.

As the day unfolded here, I spoke about the potential for election violence in Kenya with security officials and journalists who are attending the peace journalism workshop I’m teaching here. The consensus this morning was that there may be sporadic violence, but nothing as systemic or severe as the widespread bloodshed during the last election wherein 1000 Kenyans were killed and 250,000 displaced.

The consensus last summer, when I taught peace journalism seminars in Nairobi and Eldoret, Kenya, wasn’t as clear. There were lingering fears among the journalists that nothing had improved, and that the politicians and the media that fueled violence in 2007-08 hadn’t changed.

However, the Kenyan journalists with whom I’ve been emailing, Facebooking, and Tweeting seem more upbeat today. One journalist Facebooked, “Thanks for peaceful election, Kenya”. Others I’ve talked to are taking the same so far, so good stance.

There was one major violent incident today in Mombasa, where 10 policemen were killed. However, this was an attack by domestic Kenyan separatists and not related to the election itself (though it was timed for election day to cause more mayhem). Otherwise, three people were slightly injured when a bomb went off at another polling place. So far, not perfect, but a far cry from the awful chaos of 2007.

Of course, the headline on CNN is “Sporadic violence mars Kenyan election”. This, of course, is the opposite of peace journalism, since it highlights the violent and sensational. Given what happened in 2007, the headline should be “Miraculous election turnaround for Kenya” or “Kenyans succeed in conquering violence”.

Tomorrow, I’ll discuss this further with my experts on site here in Uganda, and report back to you.

For more on Uganda and Peace Journalism, check out my book "Professor Komagum", available at Amazon.com.

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Comment by Bwanika Patrick on March 5, 2013 at 6:03am: Hope 4 Kenya it is an election and not a selection, one head of state put it that ''I am not worried about my opponent but my worry is on the person who counts the votes''

Comment by Longi Felix on March 5, 2013 at 3:09am: This is good news and signifies hope for Africa's democracy. Hope the loosing candidates would readily accept the outcome of the polls.

Comment by Peter Paul on March 5, 2013 at 1:10am: Thank you Steve for this quick update on the situation on the ground. Sometimes, i am mistaken to expect better from international media. It appears as though CNN and several other international media houses already transcribed certain news even before they see it happen. Kenyans and everyone the world over know that nonviolent elections are possible and for now, that is what we should focus on. Even though further down in Kampala, we are all optimistic it will end well.

Comment by Hawa on March 4, 2013 at 1:15pm: Thanks for this update Steven.. I am actually located in the southern part of Kenya and I must say, apart from the attack by the MRC separatists group- all seems to be well. Thats how it should be. hat was disturbing was the CNN story that led to the correspondent being summoned by the government to explain the source. I believe that incident was stage-managed by war reporters including the story on Financial times that was denounced by presidential candidate Raila Odinga that he would not concede defeat if he lost in the elections. Very sad indeed that these journalists report so unprofessionally and await opportunities to unleash only bad news.
So far, we are proudly Kenyan as the results are being tallied- and we pray that the final turnout will not lead to violence.
God Bless Kenya!

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