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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NAIROBI 000598 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/E 
LONDON, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS 
 
E.O.12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM KE
SUBJECT: Kenya's Mayoral Elections Show ODM Strength, 
Need for Reform 
 
Reftel: NAIROBI 384 
 
¶1.  Summary: On February 25, Kenyan city councils 
nationwide held mayoral elections.  Comporting with the 
sordid tradition of such elections in Kenya, tales of 
blatant vote-buying and graft abounded on all sides.  The 
Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) won a plurality of 
council seats nationwide during December's general 
elections and dominates the councils in Kenya's five 
largest cities.  It easily won mayoral seats in three of 
them -- Mombasa, Kisumu, and Eldoret -- while the Nakuru 
municipal council remains locked in a stalemate over 
procedural disputes.  In a protested move, Minister of 
Local Government Uhuru Kenyatta used his office to 
unilaterally alter the list of councilors nominated to 
the Nairobi City Council in favor of President Kibaki's 
Party of National Unity (PNU).  This maneuver led to a 
tied election and a power-sharing deal between ODM 
(mayor) and PNU (deputy mayor).  Kenya's history of weak 
local government shows that citizens are unlikely to see 
improved accountability or service delivery until major 
institutional reforms in local governance are made.  End 
Summary. 
 
 
------------------------------- 
Local Leadership Elections: Not 
A Model of Democracy 
------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  As noted in reftel, on February 7, Minister of Local 
Government Uhuru Kenyatta announced that February 25 
would be the day for local city and county councilors to 
elect their leaderships.  On February 25, there were 45 
mayoral elections (for city and municipal councils) and 
129 elections for chairmen (for town and county 
councils). 
 
¶3.  Kenya's ad hoc and marginally democratic local 
government structure reflects its history as a tool of 
political patronage.  Unlike presidential elections, 
mayors and council chairmen are elected to their 
positions by fellow councilors rather than the general 
public.  As in Parliament, not all councilors are 
elected, and often, winning mayors and chairmen come into 
the councils via the party nomination -- rather than the 
electoral -- process. 
 
¶4.  Comporting with the sordid tradition of such 
elections in Kenya, tales of blatant vote-buying and 
graft abounded on all sides in the run-up to and during 
the elections.  Every day local media and contacts 
reported one council-person after another selling their 
vote while enjoying an all-expense paid vacation in some 
swanky, 5-star regional resort. 
 
-------------------------------- 
ODM Mayors in Kenya's Key Cities 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  The Orange Democratic Movement dominated civic 
elections in December, winning 1,053 of 2,498 local 
council seats nationwide.  The Party of National Unity 
(PNU) came in a distant second, with 437 seats.  The 
other 928 seats were won by a mixture of other party 
candidates.  (Note: Like many of the electoral results 
announced by the disgraced Electoral Commission of Kenya, 
the numbers do not add up.  In this case, results from 
the remaining 90 wards were either invalidated or simply 
not posted.  End note.) 
 
¶6.  ODM's domination of civic elections translated to a 
large number of mayoral victories on February 25.  Four 
of Kenya's five largest cities -- Mombasa, Kisumu, 
Eldoret, and Nairobi -- have new ODM mayors and the 
fifth, Nakuru, should go ODM in the near future as well. 
In Mombasa, nominated councilor Abubakar Mondhar (who was 
seen as representing Mombasa's indigenous Swahili and 
black population) beat Tawfiq Balala (who had the support 
of the affluent, ethnic 'white' Arab business community). 
Businessman and nominated councilor Sam Okello, the new 
mayor for Kisumu, ran unopposed after ODM intra-party 
wrangling muscled out other candidates.  In a rare battle 
 
NAIROBI 00000598  002 OF 003 
 
 
between two elected councilors, Samuel Ruto beat Eusilah 
Ngeny to become the new mayor of Eldoret. 
 
¶7.  In Nakuru, Kenya's fourth largest city, civic leaders 
reportedly engaged in brawls after PNU representatives 
objected to the legitimacy of the (Ministry of Local 
Government-appointed) town clerk and refused to 
participate in the elections.  The elections were 
postponed.  (Note: With 11 ODM councilors to PNU's eight, 
ODM seems poised to win the election thus should control 
the office of mayor in all five of Kenya's largest 
cities.  End Note.) 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
Nairobi's Mayoral Election Brings Controversy 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  In Nairobi, the contest was expected to be between 
elected ODM Councilor Godfrey Majiwa and Esther Passaris, 
who quit her job at the Adopt-a-Light program in 
anticipation of an ODM nomination for one of the 
council's appointed seats.  Passaris was reportedly 
favored by ODM leadership, but Majiwa had the backing of 
other elected councilors. 
 
¶9.  In the run-up to the race, however, Minister of Local 
Government Uhuru Kenyatta demonstrated the strong control 
he retains over local council appointments.  In a 
surprise move late on February 22, he omitted Passaris' 
name from the list of nominated councilors to be gazetted 
and replaced a number of other ODM nominees with PNU 
nominees.  Kenyatta provided no explanation for the nine 
extra PNU names on the list of nominated councilors, but 
said that there was a conflict of interest in Passaris' 
nomination to the City Council, as her Adopt-A-Light 
program and the Nairobi City Council are embroiled in a 
number of legal disputes over a cancelled contract to 
provide street light services in Nairobi. 
 
¶10.  The last-minute changes to the terms of the contest 
led to a tied vote on election day: 42 votes for Majiwa 
and 42 votes for PNU candidate John Njoroge Chege. 
Rather than participate in the tie-breaking mechanism 
provided in the Local Government Act -- the drawing of 
lots to determine the winner -- Majiwa teamed up with 
Passaris to file a court case challenging the elections. 
The dispute ended on February 27 in an ODM-PNU power- 
sharing deal: ODM's Majiwa will be Nairobi's new mayor, 
and PNU's Chege the new deputy mayor. 
 
¶11.  (Note: The Local Government Act gives the Minister 
of Local Government the authority to nominate up to one 
third of the total number of local council seats 'to 
represent the government or special interests.'  While 
there is a sense among the opposition that the government 
should honor the spirit of a 1997 inter-party agreement 
calling for proportional allocation of nominated seats 
according to each party's strength in individual 
councils, the agreement was never formalized into law. 
End Note.) 
 
---------------------------------------- 
Traditionally Weak Local Government 
Unlikely to Deliver Without Major Reform 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶12.  Whenever local councils have been given more 
responsibility to deliver services, they have failed 
miserably.  While the corruption and greed of councilors 
themselves explains part of the story, it is also because 
local councils are never provided sufficient training or 
resources to perform well.  Regardless of the reason, 
poor performance has always been used as an excuse to 
entrench power at the national level.  The position of 
council clerk, nominated by the Minister of Local 
Government, is routinely used to ensure that local 
councils do not stray too far from the central government 
on key issues. 
 
¶13.  As a result, average Kenyans have little faith in 
the ability of their local councils to deliver.  During a 
recent call-in radio show in Kisumu, one listener 
lamented, "We want mayors elected directly by the people, 
 
NAIROBI 00000598  003 OF 003 
 
 
the way we do in general elections. It is the only way to 
make councilors accountable to the people."  Another 
listener grumbled, "The mayors are controlled by 
businessmen who finance their campaigns.  These 
businessmen are the ones reaping from the councils 
through scandalous tenders.  As a result, the common man 
cannot get proper services from the council." 
 
¶14.  Comment: Although the ODM dominated local and 
parliamentary elections with its message of change, the 
change needed to improve service delivery from local 
councils will have to be the institutional kind.  A 
national power-sharing deal between PNU and ODM is meant 
to set the stage for more fundamental reforms that will 
improve Kenya's governance structure and address 
longstanding social grievances.  Empowering local 
councils (and making them more accountable to the people) 
is one on a long list of priorities that await 
parliament's attention.  Until then, Kenyans should 
expect more of the same, regardless of who won on 
February 25.  End Comment. 
 
RANNEBERGER