Walking Together, Walking Far: How a U.S. and African Medical School Partnership Is Winning the Fight against HIV/AIDS

Epilogue

132 walking together, walking far 132 walking together, walking far Epilogue Less than two months after Jacob Kirui was tested for HIV in the countryside of western Kenya, over nine million Kenyans went to the polls to elect the country’s new president and members of Parliament. Held once every five years, presidential elections are high-stakes affairs in Kenya. With the power to appoint judges, a cabinet, and the election commission, along with de facto control over the country’s budget, Kenya’s president has a constitutionally provided stranglehold on important decisions in the country. Every Kenyan presidential election since 1992 had seen outbreaks of partisan violence. Former president Daniel arap Moi was particularly notorious for hiring young thugs to attack and intimidate political opponents and their supporters. But the elections of 2007 seemed to be bucking that violent trend, despite the prospects of an extremely close race between incumbent president Mwai Kibaki and challenger Raila Odinga. On December 27, Kenyans came out to vote in record numbers, and international observers and Kenyans alike reported that there were no significant barriers presented for the millions who lined up to cast their ballots. On the morning of December 29, as the votes were still being counted, Joe Mamlin wrote home to his colleagues in Indiana . “I feel something wonderful is happening in Kenya. There was every reason to expect chaos with these elections, but all is Epilogue 133 quiet. One can sense a combination of pride and excitement as Kenyans begin to sense the real power of their vote.” But just a few hours later, Mamlin sent a very different message : “Hold on a bit! I just made the mistake of trying to go downtown in Eldoret and that turned out to be impossible. People are running everywhere. Traffic rules were suspended as everyone began driving away from town as fast as they could.” As Mamlin finished typing, a Kenyan colleague rushed into the Indiana University compound, having passed on his way two people with their throats cut lying on the side of the road. The chaos followed disturbing news from the capital in Nairobi . The Orange Democratic Movement party of challenger Odinga had won a majority of the seats in the parliamentary elections , and among the defeated were several of President Kibaki’s cabinet members. The early presidential returns confirmed the pre-election polls’ predictions that Odinga would become the first candidate in Kenyan history to unseat an incumbent president . But the Kibaki-appointed election commission was taking a suspiciously long time to tally the presidential votes, leading to rumors of ballot box stuffing. As news trickled in, the concerns seemed justified: one polling center would announce 25,000 more votes for Kibaki than the tally reported on election day, and an election official claimed he was forced to verify inflated Kibaki vote totals. International observers would eventually conclude that the counting process was rigged. On December 30, election commission chair Samuel Kivuitu announced that Kibaki was the winner. Within the hour and behind closed doors, Kibaki was sworn in for his second term. Riots immediately broke out in Nairobi, especially in Odinga’s parliamentary district in the desperate slum of Kibera. Young men roamed the streets, burning shops and attacking those who they perceived to be Kibaki supporters. Most of those who were rampaging in Nairobi were from Odinga’s Luo ethnic group, and the targets of their wrath were predominately from Kibaki’s Kikuyu group. Kenya’s 36 million people are divided among more than forty ethnic groups, each with its own language and cultural traditions, although people from dissimilar backgrounds are dispersed throughout the coun- 134 walking together, walking far 134 walking together, walking far try, share the Kiswahili language, and often intermarry. Despite this integration and Kenya’s history of relative peace and prosperity compared to other East African nations, the election dispute appeared to be pulling the lid off a simmering cauldron of ethnic resentment. Kibaki’s Kikuyu community comprises an estimated 22 percent of the country’s population, making it Kenya’s largest ethnic group. The Kikuyu are trailed closely in numbers by the Luhyas, the Luos, and the Kalenjins. Most of the population of the Eldoret area in Kenya’s western highlands is Kalenjin. Ever since Kenya won its independence from Britain and Kenya’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta, installed members of his Kikuyu clan in most positions of influence...