On August 9, Kenyans will cast their ballots with the spectre of violence from a previous election — however unlikely — casting a pall over one of the most competitive polls in its national history. A deputy president who, for a decade, has waited for his shot at the big office, is fending off a challenge from a veteran for whom Tuesday’s poll might be the proverbial last bullet in the chamber.
A fretful public was spooked this week by a memo by the United States mission to Kenya, warning staffers to avoid Kisumu and its surroundings on election day. If ordinary Kenyans had avoided voicing their fears, this allusion to the possibility of violence jarred already tense nerves.
