The 2007 Kenyan elections and their aftermath

Publication date: April 2008

Overview: In the late afternoon of 30 December 2007, the Election Commission of Kenya declared Mwai Kibaki to be the winner of the country’s election, the count of which was considered by both national and international observers as flawed, possibly rigged.

Within an hour, as Kibaki was sworn in as President in the capital, Nairobi, smoke could be seen rising from homes being burned in Kibera, the biggest slum in Africa. Within six weeks, more than 1,000 people across the country had been killed, and perhaps 500,000 others driven from their homes or fled in fear.

On January 22, 2008, international reports began to appear, claiming that media, and particularly local language (commonly called vernacular) radio stations in Kenya, were responsible for fanning ethnic hatred and fuelling violence.

This Policy Briefing, compiled for development policymakers, provides a briefing on these complex and fast-moving series of events.