**UHURU YUKO HURU-Meaning that Uhuru is free to rule**
So I said goodbye to Cris today. The 2 days went way too fast, but I would
take 2 days over no days anytime and I am sure that Cris had a great time in
Kenya (for the short time she was here) and I am also pretty sure that one day
she will return again. We kept joking
that she would be back for my wedding (whenever that maybe) and with Shelly and
Sandy all keen for a 2014 wedding here in Africa to tie in with a family trip-I
see that there is absolutely NO pressure to find a candidate. I went for the drive out to the airport and
Steven and I had made a deal that he would only charge the one way as he had to
come back to his home base anyway, which was nice as I was able to see Cris off
and with a wave, a hug and promises of Dawa when I come to Brisbane at
Christmas.
The 30th March 2013. Today was the day when Kenyans would find out
if their President Elect would be granted the original win of the March 4th
2013 elections and the country was holding its breath today waiting for the
answer. The Kenyan Supreme Court ruled
late in the afternoon that the election result in which outgoing deputy Prime
Minister Uhuru Kenyatta was found to have won the election by just over 50% of
the total vote, is correct and shall be upheld.
The Supreme Court heard the case following fierce legal challenges by
loser of the election, Raila Odinga who is a favourite of western governments:
EU, Britain and the United States. The
verdict comes amid denials by Odinga that there were too many irregularities
which marred the results. A report
released by the court that found discrepancies in partial recounts from five of
22 polling stations. The report said discrepancies for the presidential
elections were also found in 75 other stations. Lawyer George Oraro who
represented Odinga thus urged the court to cancel results from those areas that
showed problems.
Some of the evidence
on how the vote was allegedly rigged in favour of Uhuru Kenyatta is on a video
which suggests Kenyatta won by 51000 in a constituency whose total number of
voters was actually not more than 18000.
Again, as when the initial winner had been declared 6
days after all the votes had been counted, I knew when the verdict had come in
as I could hear the horns blaring, people cheering and whistles blowing from the
main road that runs through my small town of Ruaka. It is a victory not only now for the new
president, but also for the people. The
election was transparent. When there was
a concern raised there was an avenue where those concerns could be heard and
acted upon, and again it was transparent and I believe that this all the
Kenyans wanted to see. See that their
new constitution works, it is fair and that the rightfully elected person
remained so. The Kenyans had waited
hours and hours to cast their vote, peacefully, and their efforts had finally
paid off for them.
GG arrived at 6pm, as we were going to Safari park Hotel
tonight to have dinner and watch Dan perform, as he is a dancer in the nightly
cultural dance show each night at the hotel.
I have seen him dance some moves out on the town and it will be great to
see how he shakes what his mama gave him in a professional sense. As the news had spread about the court’s
ruling when we pulled out onto the main road there were people everywhere. They were packed into the trays of cars and
trucks, there were people dancing, literally in the streets waving whatever
they could get their hands on in celebration of the news. There were sticks, branches, hats, sarongs
with the political party logos and anything red as per the party’s
colours. It was a jubilant scene and
really amazing to behold and driving through.
People had smiles from ear to ear and even small children were in the
celebrations as well. GG asked if I had ever seen this sort of jubilation after an election and the answer was no. We couldn’t drive
any faster than 1st gear as we navigated stopped cars and pedestrians
as they all walked with a common vision and place to travel when in reality
there was nowhere to walk to as such. The
spirit of patriotism and nationalism had come back and I have mentioned this
before their whole process to find a leader for the country of Kenya has
humbled me. I have a born given right to
vote in Australia and all my life I have decided not to use it and when here in
Kenya it is not compulsory to vote and you have nationals waiting for over 8
hours in the hot sun to cast their vote, have their say on who will be the next
person to run their country for the next 5 years it really makes you take a
step back and think. Each individual here
feels like it is their national duty and that they are helping form their
country-and you know what? They
are.
Safari Park Hotel is the largest conference and events
venue in Nairobi and known to be the largest
conference and hotel venue in East Africa.
This is where Dan works and after clearing security and given a parking
pass I could see the resort is massive and 5 star all the way. The show didn’t start till 9pm so GG and I
had a drink at one of the bars before heading to the Nyama Choma Ranch
restaurant for dinner and also the location of where the show was to be hosted
on a specialty built stage. We decided
to have the ‘carnivore’ style meal for dinner, for the second time in as many
days for dinner. I LOVE having the BBQ
meat carved directly onto the sizzling hot iron plate that they bring out to
you. This evenings selection of meats
included beef, pork ribs, camel, crocodile, chicken, sausage, lamb, turkey,
goat and pork and I do have to say the tastiest piece of meat of the night was
the goat, closely followed by the camel and that only lost by a breath as it
was a little tough. There was a live
band playing till the show started at 9pm where they took a break till the show
finished 45 minutes later. The dance
show itself was amazing. It was
professional, the costumes were incredible and the standard of the dances were
more than I would have expected and to compare the standard I think it was way
better than some of the performances that I have seen on cruise ships. I thoroughly enjoyed the incredible show and
if you get a chance to come out to the hotel-I do recommend it. With the BBQ meal cheaper than Carnivore and
getting the free show thrown in for good measure it was a great night out and a
lot of fun seeing someone you know dance on stage.
There was a massive storm coming as the boys dropped me
home just before midnight. The rainy
season has really started to set in, but the rains don’t seem to stay long
during the day, it mainly storms quite heavily at night. For me the good thing about the rain is it
will hopefully help with things not getting so dusty at home. You can sweep and mop the place in the
morning and by the afternoon there is a film of dust on everything again. But the downside of the upside of the
downside is that unpaved roads and tracks will turn into mud which is not ideal
for the locals. Most of the time the
weather is generally sunny, dry and not too hot for most of the year; despite the
country being situated on the equator. The main rainy seasons are from March to
May and November to December, so there will be another stint to come later in
the year. Along with the storms comes
power blackouts but most of them are also timed late in the afternoons and I
did come prepared from Australia with a head torch and a LED lantern that gets
me through till the power is restored. There
have only been a handful of nights that it hasn’t come back on till 8.30pm and
at the end of the day-T.I.K (this is Kenya baby).
There was an email from Beth when I got home and my tour
is still not confirmed for the September departure. I got her to check with Dragoman about the
November departure which is also not guaranteed so I am just going to have to
stick it out a little longer and play the waiting game of the ‘booking a tour
roulette’. It is not so much the time,
as being in my ‘semi-retired’ state I can change the months of travel, but I
need to book my return trip back from London, which I am going to include on my
West Africa flights to keep the cost down and I can’t do that as the tours will
be reversed which will then involve re-routing the airline tickets and I know
what a pain in the rear of a job that is.
Yes I will just continue to wait it out for a few more weeks before I
have to bite the bullet and book flights…..
As I lay in bed I thought about my list of things to do
when I had returned from Ethiopia. I
have been back for over a week now, actually nearly 2, and I haven’t done one
of them yet. I just don’t know where the
time goes, but I will get to some of these before I head to the UK in 4 weeks’
time. On the list includes:
To ring the Aga Khan Sports Club to ask about squash-it’s
the closest club to me costing 1000KSH one way to get there-but worth the money
and effort to get out and fit. A visit
to The Nest-a local orphanage that I was told about at the hairdressers and see
if I can pick up a day a week to start with.
I have been told about this allusive pub night that the Australian
Consulate arrange once a month-be great to meet fellow compatriots and lastly I
am thinking of getting another tattoo and want to see the place that has been
recommended to me and also show them the Zeme tattoo and see if they can come
up with a design to change what is currently on my wrist and I am now ready to
let that go and what it stood for and change it to something else.
So I feel like a million bucks.
I have people I can call and rely on now-I call them
friends.
I have things to follow up, I feel like I have a purpose
here now and that I can actually start to call Nairobi home for proper as I am
getting out more and starting to know my way around (most of the time) when
Steven is driving and seeing some of the actual city I now live in and on that
note I want to congratulate the Kenyans on again a peaceful election and a
peaceful reaction to the final outcome. Well done Kenya and thanks to opening
my eyes to something I have taken for granted back in Australia. I think that not only is it your civic duty
to have your say but also patriotic to have a chance on how and who you want to
move your country forward, for a better way of life for yourself, your children
and for the future generations. I
couldn’t vote here, but kudos to all the Kenyans who took the time (and lots of
it) to vote and all the best for the next 5 years as your country moves into
the future.
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