Nairobi: Clutching her rosary in one hand and voting card in the other, 102-year-old Lydia Gathoni, a clear contender for Kenya’s keenest voter, queued through the night to ensure she was first in line to cast her ballot on Tuesday.
It was the same in 2013 elections, when Gathoni, a diehard supporter of President Uhuru Kenyatta, was first to make her mark at the primary school outside Nairobi where her political hero also voted.
Wrapped in a blanket to ward off the cold and drizzle, Gathoni led election officials and fellow voters in a prayer for peace — and a Kenyatta victory — before entering the booth.
“Let God share with him the wisdom of Solomon,” she said.
“Let God prevail. Let God govern the country.” Born in 1915 when Kenya was known as the British East Africa protectorate, Gathoni was well into middle age by the time Kenya’s independence arrived in 1963 and her idol, Jomo Kenyatta, became its first president.
Her admiration has since passed to Kenyatta’s 55-year-old son, Uhuru, who is running for re-election against Raila Odinga, a 72-year-old former political prisoner and son of Kenya’s first vice-president.
“This woman has a loving sense for Kenyatta and his father,” said her 70-year-old grandson, Simon, a retired employee of Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta University.
Since 2013, Gathoni has woken at 3am every day to pray for another Kenyatta victory, he added. “She loves his boy more than ever,” he said.
Obama urges calm
Former President Barack Obama, emerging from partial seclusion more than six months after leaving office, weighed in Monday about the tense political situation — not in the United States, but in his father’s home country, Kenya.
Obama, who has largely stayed out of the fierce debates that have consumed the United States since President Donald Trump took over in January, opted to speak out about the hotly contested presidential election scheduled for Tuesday in Kenya, where voting in recent years has been followed by violence.
“I urge Kenyan leaders to reject violence and incitement; respect the will of the people; urge security forces to act professionally and neutrally; and work together no matter the outcome,” he said in a statement. “I urge all Kenyans to work for an election — and aftermath — that is peaceful and credible, reinforcing confidence in your new constitution and the future of your country. Any disputes around the election should be resolved peacefully, through Kenya’s institutions and the rule of law.”
John Kerry says vote-counting key in Kenya polls
Former US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is observing Kenya’s elections, is calling for patience and says eventual vote-counting will be critical to the success of the process.
“There are a lot of people in line, and it is going to take some time, and we are going to need to be very patient,” said Kerry, chief election observer for The Carter Center. “But obviously, the transition from voting to counting is going to be critical and there is a process in place for that too. That’s why it is too early for us to be drawing any kinds of conclusions, but we will see where it goes.”
Kerry said that his team will be talking to election officials and other observers and that “over the course of the next day and a half, two days, solid judgements will begin to be made.”
