WOW, I was just looking back at my last prayer letter, and noticed it was the day before the Kenyan election. And so much has happened between then and now. Most importantly, the Supreme Court in Kenya nullified the previous election and ordered a new election within 60 days. The new election is on Thursday.
The opposition candidate, Ralia Odinga, has said that he’s not going to participate in the election until the Electoral Commission makes major changes to the way the election is run. The problem is, that the changes he wants aren’t possible, but he knows that. He’s called on his supporters (44% of the voters in August) to boycott the elections until changes are made. And he’s called on them to get out in the streets and protest. So for the past month and a half there have been protests every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Mostly the protests are peaceful, however in Kisumu, a Ralia stronghold, there have been some rock throwing resulting in police firing rubber bullets at the crowds. Ralia has already said that he will not recognize a win by Uhuru Kenyatta, who won the first election with 54% of the vote, and is expected to win this election by even more.
Will Ralia run on Thursday anyway? Will he call on his supporters to block poling stations? Will things be peaceful or will things get heated? We just don’t know. Every day there’s a new twist to this election story.
Although we don’t know what tomorrow holds, we do know Who holds tomorrow.
Dan Dixon's Discursive Declamations 