Kenya’s “Null and Void” Election

Opposition leader Raila Odinga speaks at a news conference outside the court after President Uhuru Kenyatta’s election win was declared invalid in Nairobi, Kenya, Sept. 1. Photo by Baz Ratner/Reuters


Kenya’s “Null and Void” Election

By Thomas C. Mountain

It seemed as though last months election in Kenya would be, as always, stolen fair and square. Instead a Supreme Court hand picked by the Kenyatta Royal Family revolted and for the first time in African history declared the election “null and void” and ordered a re-vote.

Kenya has been ruled since independence over half a century ago by the same ethnic minority clan, the Kenyatta family. Chosen by the British to usher in neo-colonialism in a land once marked by the Mau-Mau uprising, the Kenyatta’s have clung to power far longer than their colonial masters could have anticipated. “Buy, Rig or Steal” has been the modus operandi and no matter the outrage following the latest election theft, Kenya’s neo colonial masters have always stood by the Kenyatta’s and this election was no exception.

With former US Secretary of State John “Botox” Kerry looking down on the head of the election commission as a host of election observers including all to many (N)o(G)ood(O)utfits and government hacks international, the Kenyan Election Commissioner declared the good old boys the winner.

As for the oppositions claims of massive fraud with election machines being hacked the imperial retinue of bootlickers and lickspittles could only manage a few shrugs, a couple of frowns, some hemming and hawing and finally the declaration everyone was waiting for, “Free and Fair” (never mind a few areas of concern).

And then came the Revolt of the Kenyan Supreme Court, a wrench was thrown into the gearbox, and lo and behold history was made in matters of neo colonial “democracy”. President Uhuru Kenyatta, after being declared the winner and lecturing the opposition to “respect the independence of the judiciary” found himself calling the Supreme Court Justices “crooks” and “thugs”. Damn!

The roots of the Revolt of the Kenyan Supreme Court may lay in how a week or so before the election a very senior election commission member was found tortured to death. Not stabbed or shot, but tortured to death. Get the message, any fellow election commissioners who may have harbored any doubts about where their duty lay?

This may have been the proverbial straw that broke the Supreme Courts back and forced a majority of the judges to rule against their erstwhile masters. Who knows, its not as if the evidence was any more

compelling than in elections past, though just how easy it was to hack the vote was the opposition’s claim.

Anyway, to understand Kenya one must understand tribalism and its deep roots in Africa and in Kenya in particular. Kenya is very tribal in nature, something the British colonizers promoted as a part of their divide and rule strategy. Life is lived along tribal lines and though a lot of mixing in the cities has taken place pretty much everyone looks first to their tribe in matters of social importance.

So the regular victory at the polls by the Kenyatta's, a clan of the relatively small Kikuyu tribe over their long time opponents lead by Raila Odinga of the largest tribe, the Luo, could only be explained by election fraud as in “Buy, Rig or Steal”.

One of the happiest moments of this latest episode in the ongoing African Election Drama Series was the humongous “eating of Crow” forced down the throats of the imperial enforcers of western democracy in Africa. For the very first time being told to “fuck off” with the locals telling Lord of Pax Americana John Kerry to take his “free and fair election” and shove it. And by the Kenyan Supreme Court at that!

So another election is supposed to happen in 60 days though whether the election commission mafia, much battered and bleeding, will be torn up by the roots first is the winner take all question.

You see the Kenyatta Royal Family, like Ottomon Erdogan in Turkey, has too much to lose in an election, for over half a century of spoils is at stake. You can start with who owns the land under the Mombassa hotels, the largest such in Africa? Or where has all the money gone, long time passing?

Payback can be a bitch and if the Luo’s are able to win the next vote decades of frustration against the Kikuyu could lead to some bitter settling of scores, and may see the Kenyatta mafia tucking their tails

between their legs and scuttling out of the country. No worry though, they have lots of loot stashed in European banks and real estate, just let the new government try and get any of it back. To many dirty secrets tying the Kenyatta’s to MI-6 and the CIA to be allowed to see the light of day. There must be more than a few get out of jail free cards stashed away.

Still, It has been great seeing Babylon eat crow and any revolt, even if by a long time bought and sold judiciary is good news here in Africa, where all to often the only news is of war and famine and

refugees suffering untold miseries.

Thomas C. Mountain is an independent journalist in Eritrea, living andreporting from here since 2006. See thomascmountain on Facebook or best reach him at thomascmountain at g mail dot com

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