* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
By Katy Migiro, AlertNet correspondent in Nairobi
Sunday, March 3, 2013
I’ve been working flat out for the last few days. I hit a low this afternoon when my four-year-old daughter lay crying on the floor of my office, bored out of her mind.
11pm and I am still here, sending film footage to the London office.
I’m not the only one still awake. Friends are busy chatting on Facebook and Twitter.
“It's been one year of passion, blood, sweat, tears, joy, ups and down,” posted Caroline Chege, a gutsy young woman I interviewed last month who wants to be a county representative in Maasailand.
“Super excited about Monday. Bring it on!”
She had her skirt lifted while speaking at a rally and received an anonymous phone call from someone threatening to rape her.
I hope things go well for her on election day.
One hot topic is a story broadcast on CNN this weekend – ‘Kenyans armed and ready to vote’ – that shows people mock fighting in a forest.
The reporter says unnamed militias are preparing to cause mayhem next week using “guns fashioned from iron piping, homemade swords and bullets bought from the blackmarket”.
Kenyans are furious.
“Talk about desperation for fighting to break out,” complained one.
A senior civil servant Bitange Ndemo is already on YouTube criticising CNN for its “stage managed” report: “This is irresponsibility of the highest order,” he said.
Tomorrow, I’ll be monitoring polling stations with Grace Omondi, aspiring MP for Nairobi’s Makadara constituency.
The first installment of her film looks great.
“People are confused because people want bribery and then again, at the same time, they will tell you they want change,” she told me.
Not sure how I will cover her moment of reckoning tomorrow. Hoping it won’t be at some ungodly hour of the night.
Our deputy bureau chief has told us to “be flexible” and “to take it from there”.
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