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Nairobi — Kenyan Lawmakers and votes for a new president will begin early Tuesday, but many citizens desperate for relief from soaring food prices and entrenched corruption have little confidence that the next government will make any changes.
Many young people are not registered to vote, as Election Commission figures show. Many are frustrated by rising inequality and a entrenched political system overseen by the same old elite. So we are skeptical if it makes any difference who gets elected. Life is very hard," said Job Simiyu, a motorbike taxi driver.
Uhuru Uhuru his President Kenyatta resigns from the helm of the East African economic powerhouse after reaching the end of his second term.
The main candidates vying to replace him are far from new. William Ruto, 55, has been Kenyatta's deputy for the past nine years, but two men have dropped out.
Laila Odinga, 77, is a veteran opposition leader who has won Kenyatta's support this time.
Many outsiders are watching the election closely. Kenya is a stable country in a volatile region and a close ally of the West that hosts regional headquarters for Alphabet, Visa and other international groups.
But within Kenya, some shrug their shoulders and dismiss votes for president, parliament and local government.
"There seems to be growing apathy. Because of disillusionment, voter turnout may not be as high as it should be," said Nairobi-based American International University Africa Macharya Munene, a professor of international relations, said:
Loans, jobs, violence and corruption
Kenyatta has brought about an infrastructure boom. Most of it was financed by foreign loans, which would affect his successor.
He once said there was nothing he could do to combat corruption and that rising global prices for food, fuel and fertilizer were hitting Kenyans hard. Some voters wonder whether his representatives and the man he supported could offer new solutions.
can lower the The Kikuyu, the largest ethnic group, have produced three of his four presidents in Kenya. This time, both frontrunners have Vice President Kikuyu, but no presidential candidate.
Ruto hails from the Rift Valley-based populous Karenjin his community, the Luo ethnic group of Odinga being one of the largest he It is centered in western Kenya.
Root is trying to capitalize on the growing anger among poor Kenyans and he plans to set up a fund to provide loans to small businesses, he said.
"It's about creating jobs for the youth," he said at his final rally in Nairobi this weekend.
Odinga, who lost the last four elections, has committed to tackling corruption and making peace with the opposition after the election. The 2007 and his 2017 polls were marred by riots after a dispute over alleged manipulation.
"Shake hands with your rivals if necessary and pay the political price," Odinga said at his final rally.
Odinga led by six to eight points in the last four polls released last week, but Root dismissed them as phony polls meant to sway voters.
To avoid a runoff, a presidential candidate must receive at least 50% of the vote and at least 25% of the vote in half of Kenya's 47 counties.
A poll for his 22.1 million registered voters will begin at 6:00 a.m. local time (0300 GMT). Preliminary results will begin streaming that evening, but official announcements will take a few days.
(Reporting by Duncan Miriri, Editing by Katharine Houreld and Andrew Heavens)
