| Kenya's Progress |
6 January 2003
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Kenya's Peaceful Transition
The African country of Kenya took a huge step forward as 2002 ended, and gave us all a small cause for hope. After almost 40 years of power, the ruling KANU party was voted out by a large majority, and power went peacefully to the former opposition party. No tanks in the streets. No rioting. In short, Kenya got through the trickiest part of democratic government.
Of course, there were charges of fraud, cases where people were not allowed to vote who should have been, but Kenya proved itself to be no worse than Florida. And Daniel arap Moi, the outgoing president, deserves some credit. Although he's more or less run his country into the ground with corruption and poverty, the constitution barred him from re-election -- and he did not change the constitution. That is a big deal. After 24 years, he left office because the constitution required him to do so.
The new president, Mwai Kibaki, will have to work miracles. In Kenya, some say, "It is not safe to carry cash, there are too many policemen around." HIV infection is at 10% of the entire population. Phone lines are torn down by the poor for the copper in the wires.
And yet, the opposition has come to power without violence, after the will of the people was clearly expressed in a fairly honest election. President Kibaki is an old man who is unlikely to serve more than this one term, but it has already started in a way many didn't dare hope it could.