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Here we go again
Kenya’s supreme court stunned the nation this week by declaring the country’s Aug. 8 presidential election invalid and ordering a new vote. Within the next 60 days, incumbent president Uhuru Kenyatta, declared the winner of last month’s poll, will face his rival Raila Odinga—again.
Odinga had petitioned the court to overturn the result, claiming the electoral system was hacked and rigged in Kenyatta’s favor. In its ruling on Sept 1, the court concluded the election “was not conducted in accordance with the constitution,” rendering the declared results “invalid, null and void.”
It’s unclear how the new vote will work. Kenya’s electoral body, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), has been at the center of election fraud accusations by Odinga’s NASA coalition. NASA is calling for a new commission to oversee the vote redo—a task that will prove Sisyphean given how intense the recruitment and training process is for commissioners. Some politicians are calling for the United Nations to hold the poll.
Another election will be expensive. Kenya spent at least $480 million in government funds on the August vote. Following the announcement on Friday, the country’s main stock market had to halt trading for half an hour after shares plummeted. Safaricom, Kenya’s largest listed company, lost 5.8%. A second election will cost Kenyans something too. Millions traveled to their home villages to vote or avoid potential violence in cities, putting their lives and jobs on hold. They’ll have to do that again.
In the immediate term, the decision helped Kenya’s judiciary assert independence from the government, gaining trust in a country that views its institutions as some of the most corrupt in the world. Foreign election observers, meanwhile, lost some of that trust. Some 400 election observers from the African Union, the European Union, and the United States, including former US secretary of state John Kerry, concluded the August election was “free, fair and credible.”
When Kenyatta was declared the winner last month, he said that “in a true democracy, all Kenyans are winners.” As the country gears up for another round of campaigning, both he and Odinga will have to work to live up to that truism.
— Lily Kuo and Abdi Latif Dahir, Quartz Africa correspondents in Nairobi
Stories from this week
Kenya expands its donkey hide industry. While several African countries have banned the export of donkey hides, used in traditional Chinese medicine, Kenya is opening donkey abattoirs and considering donkey breeding schemes, reports Joshua Masinde.
TEDGlobal returns to Africa. After a 10-year hiatus, TEDGlobal brought activists, scientists, and artists to Arusha, Tanzania. Abdi Latif reports on a device that could sniff out everything from explosives to cancer cells, the prospect of running out of food in a decade, and Rwandan president Paul Kagame’s pointed advice for journalists.
The most liked tweet in history. Barack Obama tweeted a quote by former South African president Nelson Mandela in response to violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. It quickly became the most liked tweet in history. Caryn Abrahams explains why it was so strategic.
Kenya bans plastic bags. Manufacturing, importing or using a plastic bag is now punishable with jail time and up to $38,000 in fines in Kenya. Lily Kuo reports on how Kenyans are adjusting to life without plastic bags, replacing them with cartons, paper bags, shoe boxes, and envelopes.
It’s time to stop using Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as a guidebook for the Congo. Joseph Conrad’s 120-year-old book documenting his journey up the Congo River is still used by contemporary writers as a handbook for navigating the African continent. This should no longer be the case, writes Lynsey Chutel.
Kenyan democracy cannot take shape until its media step up. Kenyan media failed to report on state violence against civilians during the country’s recent presidential elections. George Gathigi argues this will hurt the future of democracy in the country.
Chart of the week
African governments are asking tech companies for user data. Requests for subscriber data and content removal from global tech companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google are vital to understanding how government censorship and surveillance online are growing on the continent, writes Yomi Kazeem.
Other Things We Liked
No country for civilians. The sudden exodus of people from war-torn South Sudan is the largest Africa has seen since the 1994 Rwandan genocide. From Kajo Keji county in South Sudan, Jason Patinkin reports how the country of 12 million has emptied out in response to a brutal war, and what a nation without civilians looks like.
The power plants that may save Africa’s oldest national park. Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo is banking on several nearby hydroelectric power plants to reduce poaching and deforestation by providing electricity and jobs. Amy Yee writes in the New York Times that these efforts put it on a collision course (paywall) with a growing human population.
Is Liberia’s Sirleaf really standing up for women? Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first female head of state, recently promised to campaign for women candidates in the upcoming general elections. In Al Jazeera English, Robtel Neajai Pailey and Korto Reeves William argue that Sirleaf’s record on advocating for female politicians is woefully inadequate.
Keep an eye on
Zuma vs. the opposition (Sept. 5). South Africa’s constitutional court will hear opposition arguments to “trigger” a parliamentary investigation into whether president Jacob Zuma lied about spending state funds on his private home. If successful, the case could eventually lead to his impeachment.
Nigerian GDP data (Sept. 5). Nigeria releases gross domestic product data. After returning from a long sick leave in the UK, president Muhammadu Buhari said he was “delighted” by how the economy was improving.
Our best wishes for a productive and thought-filled week ahead. Please send any news, comments, suggestions, election annulments, and power plants to africa@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter at @qzafrica for updates throughout the day.
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