Author: W. Ouma Oyugi, Peter Wanyande, C Odhiambo-Mbai.

The run-up to the 2002 General Elections in Kenya was of great significance to the country and the region at large. For the first time since independence in 1963, the country faced an election that would be held under an incumbent who was by law barred from contesting, but whose entrenched position in the structure of power cast a powerful shadow over the outcome of the elections. In spite of the prevailing popular mood for change, the elections looked set to end the predictable and controversial way, with the ruling party slated to use the advantages of incumbency to cling to power. The motley array of contesting parties, riddled with ethnicity and leadership wrangles, looked set to suffer defeat yet again.