 | | | | | | | |
| Words in the News
Monday 30 December 2002
Vocabulary from the news. Listen to and read the report then find explanations of difficult words below.
| |
|
| |  | | |
New president for Kenya
Summary: The newly elected president of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki, has been receiving praise and congratulations from around the world for his landslide election victory. Mr Kibaki's National Rainbow Coalition defeated Daniel arap Moi's KANU party which had run the country since independence in 1963. This report from Daniel Schweimler:
| | |
|
| | The News | |
| | | Mwai Kibaki is still celebrating an overwhelming victory, with congratulations from around the world ringing in his ears. South Africa praised the outcome of the election as another indication of Africa's growing commitment to multi-party democracy. The American Secretary of State, Colin Powell, noted the promise by the new leadership to fight corruption in Kenya. Britain, the former colonial power, said it looked forward to working with the new government.
Most Kenyans have never known any leader other than Daniel arap Moi, who governed the country for 24 years, and his KANU party, which has held power since independence from Britain in 1963. Mr Kibaki seemed to be forever in opposition, losing elections in 1992 and 1997. However, incomplete returns show that this time, promising to revive the country's ailing economy and tackle rampant corruption, he won well over sixty percent of the vote.
A special ramp has been erected in Nairobi's Uhuru Park, for the inauguration of the 71-year old, who is still using a wheelchair after a car accident in which he broke his arm and injured his neck. But that will be of little concern as all eyes in the country watch the symbolic hand over of the Kenyan flag and the beginning of a new era.
Daniel Schweimler, BBC
| | |
|
| | The Words
| |
| | | overwhelming
overpowering
| | |
| | | ringing in his ears
the residual high pitched noise after hearing a very loud noise
| | |
| | | multi-party
many political organisations
| | |
| | | corruption
dishonesty, illegal behaviour
| | |
| | | colonial power
an authority in a country that is answerable to another country, another country’s rule
| | |
| | | independence
not relying on others
| | |
| | | rampant
the uncontrolled spread of something
| | |
| | | inauguration
the ceremony that establishes someone in an official capacity or job
| | |
| | | hand over
giving
| | |
| | | era
period of time that is considered as a single unit because it has a particular feature
| | |
|
|
| | Read more about this story | |
| | Other Words in the News archives | |
|
