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RUEHDR/AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM 5595
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM 1689
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RUEHDJ/AMEMBASSY DJIBOUTI 4932

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NAIROBI 004567 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/E 
LONDON, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHER 
 
E.O.12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KE
SUBJECT: Kenya Election:  Western Province Primaries 
 
REF: NAIROBI 4258 and previous 
 
Summary and Introduction 
------------------------ 
¶1. (SBU) The U.S. Mission sent 20 observation teams 
across Kenya to cover the party nomination process on 
November 16. To a team, our observers reported that all 
three major parties (ODM, PNU and ODM-K) often failed or 
refused to supply proper ballots or, often, any ballots 
at all.  Reports of vote buying, rampant disorganization, 
violence and voter intimidation were common place; so 
too, however, were stories of an incredibly dedicated and 
patient electorate who frequently beat a stacked deck to 
bring down one incumbent MP after another.  The snapshot 
below, from our team covering the southern region of 
Western Province, is illustrative of what we saw 
nationwide during Kenya's tumultuous party nominations 
process.  Note that in future, party primaries will be 
conducted by the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) due 
to recent political reform legislation.  The ECK has a 
credible record of administering elections.  The parties 
do not.  The misadventures reported here are NOT 
predictive of the ECK-administered general election 
scheduled for 27 December. 
 
Ballots, Boxes, Trees, and Voters 
--------------------------------- 
¶2. (SBU) An Embassy team spent November 16 in Western 
Province observing party nomination polling stations in 
four constituencies: Funyula, Budalangi, Amagoro, and 
Nambale.  At play here and throughout the country were 
parliamentary and local government candidacies for all 
three major political parties and many of the minor ones 
as well (some smaller parties held nomination exercises 
the day before).  The team's observations were one part 
of the Embassy's country-wide 20 team observation mission 
and are representative of many of the challenges faced in 
making political party-administered elections work 
throughout Kenya.  A comprehensive look at the 
nominations process is being reported septel. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Polling on November 16 was scheduled to start as 
early as 6:30 a.m., but most polling stations had no 
ballot papers or boxes as the day began.  Some ballot 
papers in some polling stations began to arrive by mid- 
morning, others came in the early afternoon.  Some ballot 
papers for local ward nominations never arrived at all. 
When ballot papers arrived, the number was often 
insufficient to accommodate voters.  Some polling 
stations used transparent Tupperware as their balloting 
boxes.  Others used large, opaque, yellow plastic jugs. 
The team saw polling stations in schools, churches, and 
under trees. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The constituencies visited were in areas where 
the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) was 
strong, and the vast majority of polling stations 
observed were for ODM candidates.  (Note: All twenty 
teams observed in party strongholds precisely because 
these areas were identified as the most potentially 
explosive, the nomination winners being virtually 
guaranteed victory in the general election this December. 
End note.)  Crowds at ODM polling stations were large and 
peaceful.  The team saw a number of polling stations 
where 100 or more voters waited patiently -- sometimes 
for hours and hours -- until ballot papers appeared. 
Many voters' choices were not anonymous, and therefore 
vulnerable to outside influence.  Voters at one polling 
station were taken aside by the presiding officer and 
asked who they wanted to vote for.  After receiving an 
answer, the presiding officer would call over the 
candidate's agent, who would fill out the ballot. 
 
Police: the Good, the Bad & the Ugly 
------------------------------------ 
¶5. (SBU) Police were out in force throughout the day. 
Some, like the administrative police in Amagoro 
constituency, were proactive and helpful, stopping in 
polling stations and asking if there were any problems. 
Others, like those in Budalangi constituency, appeared to 
be complicit with elements of the local party machinery 
and favored aspirants, stalling the process and 
intimidating rival aspirants.  One ODM presiding officer 
 
NAIROBI 00004567  002 OF 003 
 
 
said that police had disrupted a political rally with 
tear gas the night before and that the car carrying their 
ballot papers had just been carjacked at a nearby bridge. 
The presiding officer said there was no point in 
notifying police about the carjacking, as they suspected 
police were involved. 
 
¶6. (SBU) The team later encountered three trucks carrying 
police at a road intersection at the Budalangi/Funyula 
border.  The officials rapidly dispersed in their 
vehicles as the team approached to talk.  The team later 
witnessed one of the trucks stop an oncoming car, pull 
the two occupants out of the vehicle, throw them to the 
ground, search them and their vehicle, strike them with 
sticks, and force them to remove their clothes.  The 
Kenyan members of the observation team recognized one of 
the men as ODM candidate Ababu Namwamba. (Note: Namwamba, 
a lawyer, was considered the front-running ODM candidate 
- a threat to incumbent FORD-Kenya MP and Assistant 
Minister for Water Raphael Wanjala.  Namwamba won his 
primary that day and will face Wanjala at the polls in 
December.  End Note.) 
 
Rigging? The Vice President and the Incumbent 
--------------------------------------------- 
¶7. (SBU) The Party of National Unity (PNU) -- a new 
coalition of parties supporting President Kibaki -- had 
trouble holding their alliance together for the 
nomination process.  Vice President Moody Awori received 
a direct PNU nomination for Funyula constituency only two 
days ahead of the polls, which surprised fellow PNU 
member and MP aspirant Chrispinus Wafula Mugwanga, who 
had intended to run against him.  Mugwanga, a FORD-Kenya 
member, protested the direct nomination with his party 
headquarters, and said that he will stand as a FORD-Kenya 
MP candidate in December against Moody, who he said 
should not be allowed to run under the unified PNU 
banner. 
 
¶8. (SBU) The only reports of poll-related violence in the 
team's four constituencies came from Amagoro, where 
supporters of ODM MP aspirant Albert Aggrey Ekirapa beat 
supporters of ODM MP incumbent Sospeter Ojaamong at a 
polling station.  According to ODM coordinator Steven 
Otwana, one of the victims was reported to be critically 
injured. Otwana said that the Ekirapa supporters did not 
want Ojaamong to be allowed to compete in northern 
Amagoro, where support for Ekirapa was strong. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Ekirapa supporters admitted to beating an 
Ojaamong supporter, but accused Ojaamong of manning 
polling stations with his supporters, making fake ODM 
ballot papers, and using his agents to fill in fraudulent 
ballots for Ojaamong. ODM ballots for Amagoro 
constituency were not tallied in Amagoro as planned 
because of the violence.  The team learned about the 
last-minute change from a presiding officer whose polling 
station voted for Ojaamong by hundreds of votes, and it 
is likely that northern Amagoro polling stations did not 
receive the word, as the returning officer's cell phone 
was turned off.  Ojaamong was declared as the primary 
winner. 
 
The Results: Incumbents Out, Big Races Set for December 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
¶10. (SBU) Perhaps the biggest story of the primaries was 
the early defeat of incumbent Members of Parliament 
(MPs).  In Western Province, five of the province's 24 
incumbent MPs, including two close allies of ODM Vice 
Presidential candidate Musalia Mudavadi, lost their 
primaries. 
 
¶11. (SBU) After his controversial direct nomination, Vice 
President Awori will face a stiff challenge in the 
December general elections by the victorious ODM 
candidate, Dr. Paul Otuoma.  Police arrested Otuoma 
earlier in the week on what many consider trumped-up 
murder charges. (Note: Otuoma, who is considered the Vice 
President's strongest potential rival, claimed that the 
case was an attempt to prevent him from running against 
the Vice President. End Note.)  When Otuoma appeared in 
court on November 16, he was released on bond and he 
easily won the ODM nomination later that day. 
 
NAIROBI 00004567  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶12. (SBU) Comment: The observation team's most enduring 
impression was the large crowds of Kenyan voters who 
waited patiently -- sometimes for hours -- to exercise 
their right to vote.  Despite numerous procedural 
irregularities and examples of blatant government- 
sponsored and/or local party machinery-sponsored 
intimidation, the results speak for themselves: 
intimidation did not prevent strong candidates from 
winning, and election officials found innovative, good 
faith ways to allow polling to proceed in spite of late 
and insufficient materials.  The early defeat of 
incumbent MPs showed that attempted rigging by incumbents 
was not entirely successful and the victory of strong 
opposition candidates in key districts will make for a 
fierce contest in December. 
 
RANNEBERGER