UPDATE: 11:00 PM

Rumours going round are to the effect that Raila Odinga and William Ruto have been arrested, and William Ruto has been shot. Reportedly this is after ODM announced their intentions to name a parallel government, a move, I must confess, is not entirely wise given the current situation.

More as I get it.

I have just been watching President Kibaki been sworn in, amid applause from his cabal of powerful friends and cronies. As far as I can tell it seems to have been a private ceremony for himself and his friends.

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the fact that Kibaki’s friends and minions were already gathered and ready for swearing in minutes after the announcement was made.

People awaiting news

I refuse to call him and his ilk honourable. They are no such thing.

While he and his friends are sipping tea and eating crumpets in statehouse I find myself at crossroads.

I question the very beliefs I once held true — that democracy at the end of the day triumphs.

I feel outraged that Mwai Kibaki can with a straight face tell me how he feels “humbled that the people have elected him” and how he urges his opponents to “respect the electoral process”.

People reacting to the news

I feel mad that Samuel Kivuitu is cracking jokes at State House while my country falls apart because of him and his puppeteers.

I feel that the people of Kenya have been completely robbed of everything they have gained over the last 40 years. We lacked few things but at least we were generally a fair people.

I feel that the change we thought we had in 2005 was just an illusion.

I feel that all the time (3+ years), love, devotion and attention I dedicated on Mzalendo.com, sleepless nights sacrificed, hours of my time and resources have been pissed away in just a few days.

I feel that Kenyans have been robbed of something that can never be valued — their electoral process.

I feel challenged even now to respond to the question I had been asked earlier in the day — “Is there any point voting?”

Fracas begins to develop in my backyard

I feel cheated because the same cabal that has been in power since independence is still in power.

I feel cheated that an administration rejected by the ballot can somehow find itself into the presidency.

I feel sad that Kenyans optimistically queued on the 27th thinking they could control their destiny and the very people they entrusted spat on their good faith and goodwill.

I feel angry that my house has just been stoned.

I feel angry that my friends’ shops have been looted and burnt.

Shops Looted and burnt. FYI the burning kiosk is the left most blue one in the first photo

I feel shocked that on comparing Kibaki to Moi, Moi comes out on top because he actually walked away when he lost.

I feel amazed that the ruling party in no way shape or form is representative of the country.

I feel insulted that people can rig the elections and believe that we are dumb enough not to see through it.

I cry (literally) at realizing that we have been robbed of our peaceful, friendly homeland, where our camaraderie made us famous worldwide by power hungry power barons.

As I sit here in my room sick to my stomach and hear the breaking glass outside my house and see my friends watch helplessly as their shops are looted and burnt I again ask myself …

What have they done?

UPDATE

The Government has just issued a directive via the Ministry of Information & Communication banning all live broadcasts, or broadcasts of anything “inciting”, presumably the reaction to the ECK announcement.

Try harder. You can’t silence the truth.

It’s official. ECK has just declared Mwai Kibaki winner.

Despite

• PNU only securing about 40 seats out of 210
• Extremely suspicious activities revolving around presidential and parliamentary results
• A confession from a commissioner of inflation
• A confession from an aspirant of vote stuffing
• Televised footage of vote stuffing

The ECK chairman claimed that it had no jusisdiction to act on the issues raised  by the ODM to do with irregularities in some 48 odd results.

I find this difficult to buy.

Quote of the day, from a thoughtful passerby

So what was the point in voting?

I no longer feel able to respond.

Meanwhile there is unrest in South B and Eastlands.

The much awaited announcement from ECK chairman Samuel Kivuitu never was. He had began by reading results by Molo when the ODM loudly challenged the results.

Things speedily ground to a halt.

Shortly after aspirant Raila Odinga held a press conference where he bemoaned the doctoring of the results, which was confirmed by William Ruto who tabled a copy of the Form 16A where the total votes for Kibaki were at odds with those that were announced.

Then came the shocker.

An ECK commissioner stepped up and confessed that there had been doctoring of results at the ECK, specifically during the generation of the sheets that were used to read the results. According to him numbers favouring Kibaki were inflated in his favour. He said he was in Team 2 in charge of Coast and Upper Eastern and he confessed after doctoring 3 constituencies he could no longer stomach what was being done.

We’re not done.

Juja aspirant William Kabogo also appeared on TV and complained about the rigging of the Juja vote in favour of the PNU candidate, George Thuo. He claims there is significant deviation between the parliamentary votes and presidential votes.

What. The. Fuzz?

If this is a fact, then to tell the truth I am stunned. I cannot believe that people are naive enough to think that Kenyans are foolish enough to buy this sort of thing. This is 2007 for God’s sake! Do people still think that this sort of thing works?

I am very angry that a mockery has been made of Kenyans and the electoral process. Kenyans sacrificed on the 27th to vote and now some bigwigs are conspiring to silence the voice of the people. I am very bitter and very angry that the electoral process seems to have been stolen from Kenyans.

I remember laughing when watching Mwai Kibaki attending that KANU National Delegates conference and finger in the air singing “KANU yajenga nchi“.

I’m not laughing so hard now. Does anyone recall the last paragraphs of Animal Farm?

We can forgive buffoonery, ineptitude and passivity. We will not forgive our voices being silenced. Will post when I learn anything new

WHAT HAVE YOU PEOPLE DONE?

Pray for this country. I’m getting the sinking feeling in my stomach that some greedy people are on the verge of irreversibly ruining this country