Struggle for Democracy: The election as the acid test for Kenya

Kenya will elect a new president today – and this is pOexplosive. Because the outgoing incumbent does not support his vice president, but the opposition candidate. Many Kenyans now fear clashes.

From the back of a pickup truck, young men try to raise awareness for their candidate in the upcoming elections. Not so easy when the rickety car rumbles through the potholes and you have to hold on again and again. Election campaigning in the slum is backbreaking work, especially around Dandora – the largest garbage dump in Kenya.

For most people, living here means survival above all. All the more so since food prices have exploded because of the Ukraine war and a long drought in Kenya, says campaigner Stephen Aduda.

“Life is hard. Buying groceries has become so expensive. But we don’t make more money. So we have no choice but to spend less. We have just enough to pay for food and rent. Nothing more.”

His small team takes a break at a gas station. The stench of garbage is in the air here more than the smell of petrol and diesel. The neighborhoods around the dump are among the poorest in the capital, Nairobi. Crime is high; many use drugs.

Kenyans are afraid of violence – like in 2007

When violence broke out in Kenya after the 2007 elections, dozens of people were killed here. When it comes to what they saw back then – some when they were children – everyone on the campaign team talks at once. They tell of women being raped and neighbors attacking each other. Houses burned down.

Many Kenyans will not let go of these memories. They fear before every vote that there could be conflicts again. Especially since politicians who were suspected of instigating violence are now back in the running.

In 2007, Raila Odinga and William Ruto were still officially on one side. This time they compete against each other. Stephen Aduda and his team promote Odinga. “I’ve always supported him. He’s very open and honest,” says Aduda.

Largest ethnic group has no candidate

Raila Odinga belongs to the Luo ethnic group, who are primarily at home around Lake Victoria in western Kenya. He has tried to be president several times, but was always defeated by the candidate from the Kikuyu, the largest ethnic group. In this election, for the first time in 30 years, they have no representative in the race. That could be problematic, says Aduda: “There is this fear of the future. Because they were not without power in Kenya for a long time.”

Incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta, a Kikuyu, now backs his perennial adversary Raila Odinga. The relationship with his former Vice President William Ruto, on the other hand, has long been completely broken. In any case, the two were always just an alliance of convenience that had nothing in common other than that they should both answer to the International Criminal Court in The Hague for the violence that followed the 2007 elections.

It’s always about money

Alliances change rapidly in Kenyan politics. Always according to the motto that one of the campaigners summarized as follows: “One hand washes the other,” says Robert Njihia.

Ultimately, it’s always about money. Ethnic groups support their candidate because they hope it will improve their own lives – more schools and roads in their region. In most cases, however, it is only the politicians themselves who benefit.

The Kenyatta family is one of the richest in Kenya. The father of the outgoing president was the country’s first post-independence head of state. Raila Odinga is also the second member of his family in politics and doesn’t have to worry about his finances.

People’s reality has nothing to do with their dreams

Sometimes even the election campaigners ask themselves: Where are we actually? Stephen Aduda, who, like so many around Dandora, dreams of a music career, wrote a song about it together with a friend. The other musician calls himself Ramsizo and explains that it’s about a citizen who demands a fresh start from politicians.

But no matter who wins from the candidates – the reality for the people around the dump will have nothing to do with their dreams.