More info on Kenya

The following is an excerpt from the paper I am writing as an independent study

Kenya gained its independence from Britain on December 12^th 1963. (Hassan) Since then Kenya has had three presidents. Jomo Kenyatta was president from 1963 until 1978, following Kenyatta’s death Daniel Arap Moi took over the presidency until 2002 when he was barred from running. Mwai Kibaki then won the presidency. And served one term then reran for the 2007 election. (Kenya)
In the 2007 presidential race the forerunners were Mwai Kibaki who is a member of the Party of National Unity (PNU), Raila Odinga a member of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), and Kalonzo Musyoka who is a member of the Orange Democratic Movement – Kenya (ODM-K). (Kennedy and Hassan) Kenyan political parties are formed not necessarily around a set of beliefs as they are in the US, but around a candidate. (Matunga) New political parties are created every time there is an election. (Matunga)
PNU was formed in September of 2007 as a party for the current president to run under. PNU was created by combining several pre-existing parties, namely the Kenyan African National Union (KANU), National Rainbow Coalition – Kenya (Narc – Kenya), Forum for the Restoration of Democracy – Kenya (FORD – Kenya), Forum for the Restoration of Democracy – People (FORD – People), Democratic Party, and Shirikisho Party of Kenya among others. (Party of National Unity) Kibaki’s first term he ran under the NARC (National Rainbow Coalition). Since then NARC didn’t seem to want to support the president. And the newly formed NARC-Kenya was not well supported by various politicians in Kibaki’s cabinet. (Party of National Unity)
ODM and ODM-K were originally one party which was formed in 2005 as a result of the Constitutional Referendum. The party split into ODM and ODM-K in August of 2007. (Orange Democratic Party) Both parties retained the Orange Democratic Movement as a result of the Constitutional Referendum. On the ballot for the referendum a yes vote was represented by a banana which is also supposed to represent the number 1. (Hassan) A no vote was signified by an orange which also represents the number 0. (Hassan) The referendum failed by a mere majority of 58.12%. Thus the Orange Democratic Movement was formed to celebrate the win on the referendum. (Orange Democratic Movement)
Another interesting aspect of the election is that PNU only won 43 seats in Parliament. ODM won 99 seats, but if you count all of the seats won by PNU’s ‘co-parties’ PNU can control 78 seats. (Party of National Unity) Because ODM has the largest number of seats from any single party it is extremely important to develop a good relationship between PNU and ODM. (Matunga)
Another necessary understanding to the situation in Kenya is tribal differences. (Kennedy) Kenya officially has eight different tribes, unofficially the count is closer to eighty. (Odhiambo-Mabona ) The main tribes are Kikuyu – 23%, Luhya – 14%, Luo – 13%, Kalenjin – 11%, Kamba – 10%, Kisii – 8%, Meru – 8%, and Somali – 3%. Kenya is split up into eight provinces which are further divided into districts. (Odhiambo-Mabona ) It should not be surprising that the province lines lie extremely close to tribal lines. Also unsurprising should be the fact that different tribes support different candidates. Kenyatta and Kibaki are both Kikuyu while Moi was Kalenjin. Odinga on the other hand is a Luo. Most presidents then in turn favor their individual tribe providing more supplies, education, advancement, and better treatment. “Mwai Kibaki – whose policies of favoring his own ethnic group have marginalized about half the country” (Jettleman)