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| Monday, 30 December, 2002, 10:01 GMT Election diary: Life without Moi ![]() Nairobi crowds celebrate the Kibaki victory
With a smile, he lets my Somali colleague carry his huge radio set onto the plane. I am leaving behind a town nursing a massive hangover and in a deep slumber after the opposition's clean sweep in Friday's poll. It's a rather jerky flight from Mombasa to Nairobi - but my thoughts are elsewhere. At 27,000 ft above sea level, I can pretend to have a bird's eye view of this nation, which is on the verge of re-inventing itself.
A young, handsome man who promised so much lost because he was in the wrong party. On the way to State House is a rather old man who was reduced to a wheelchair in the final days of the run-up to the election by a freak car accident. Both men represent what's old and what's new in Kenya - the old repackaged as the new and the truly new tainted by a horrible past. In the shadows, a man destined for his rocking chair at his home in the Rift Valley. Three men making history in their own way - Uhuru Kenyatta conceding defeat; Mwai Kibaki taking over majestically; and Daniel Toroitich arap Moi stepping down almost gracefully. Touchdown. Moi's official portrait still stares down coldly in the arrival section.
A chatty taxi driver rambles on about the Rainbow Coalition's victory and what a great future Kenya now has. Amazingly, other motorists on Uhuru Highway seem more composed than usual. Ten days is a short time in the life of city. But in that period, Nairobi has managed to shed its old Moi image and embrace a new, gentle Kibaki face. As they now say here - everything is possible without Moi. Click here to read Gray Phombeah's previous election diary |
See also: 28 Dec 02 | Africa 27 Dec 02 | Africa 27 Dec 02 | Africa 26 Dec 02 | Africa Top Africa stories now: Links to more Africa stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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