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The electoral commission has chartered aircraft and helicopters to bring the results to the national tallying centre in Nairobi after the new electronic tallying system failed
By Katy Migiro, AlertNet correspondent in Nairobi
Wednesday March 6, 2013
The electoral commission has promised to announce the result today, putting an end to the anxious wait over who has won the presidency.
It has chartered aircraft and helicopters to bring the results to the national tallying centre in Nairobi after the new electronic tallying system failed.
Presidential results for each of the 290 constituencies are being read out one by one as they arrive in the tallying centre.
Everyone is appealing for patience and calm.
Kenyans are deriding the foreign media for their alarmist attitude.
“#Breaking News: Smoke billowing in Kibra as residents light jikos [stoves] to prepare lunch #TweetLikeAForeignJournalist,” tweeted @spicerken.
The town is busier than it was with people returning to work, but several businesses are still closed.
Yesterday, I spent 11 hours waiting in and around the Makadara tallying centre to hear whether Grace Omondi – whose campaign I have been filming – would win the vote to become MP.
The school building in which the results were read out was surrounded by security officials – police, soldiers and prison guards.
The closest bar was packed with people watching television and steadily getting drunk.
At first, the electoral commission’s provisional results were broadcast live as they were transmitted electronically to Nairobi from tallying centres across the country.
The new technology was designed to ensure Monday's presidential election was transparent and prevent a repeat of the violence that followed the disputed 2007 poll.
In the early evening, the numbers stalled. People started calling and texting each other saying there were plans to rig the vote.
In a live broadcast at 8 p.m., the chairman of the electoral commission, Ahmed Issack Hassan, announced that they would now rely on manual delivery of results as the new electronic tallying had failed.
"What matters here is the final result and they are coming in," he said.
I was spooked by the echoes of the 2007 announcement by Hassan’s predecessor, Samuel Kivuitu.
As Kenyans waited for the much-delayed presidential result, Kivuitu announced that some of his returning officers had switched off their phones and speculated that they were probably “cooking results”.
As the national tallying centre erupted in protest, he was whisked off to the state broadcaster, KBC, from where he read the results that he had.
The incumbent, Mwai Kibaki, was sworn in as dusk fell and Nairobi’s slums exploded in protest. So began weeks of bloodletting.
Yesterday, remembering those events, I felt nervous being on the ‘wrong’ side of town after dark.
I didn’t want to get lost driving home alone on dark, potholed roads – with the added fear that protests could break out.
I gave up on work and legged it home to my sofa and a glass of wine.
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