Kenya, ever since gaining independence form Great Britain, has been a democratic republic with the President as the head of the state, the head of the government and chief of the armed forces. Executive power is exercised by the government and legislative power by both the government and the national assembly.

The president of Kenya is elected every 5 years in a national election and the constitution has set aside three clauses for one to be able to become a president:

1. To gain the largest number of votes amongst all candidates nationwide in absolute numbers.
2. To gain at least 25% of the vote in 5 out of Kenya's 8 provinces.
3. To be elected as a member of parliament from a constituency.

The president appoints a Vice-President and the members of the cabinet. Kenyan National Assembly has 224 members - 210 elected members, 12 nominated members, the attorney-general and the speaker.

Kenya goes to the polls once every 5 years to elect the President and the National Assembly. The elections are generally held in December every year. Jomo Kenyatta was the first Prime Minister (1963-64) and then became the first president of Kenya till his death in 1978. He was succeeded by Daniel Arap Moi who ruled till 2002 when he was ousted by popular mandate. Daniel Moi, following an unsuccessful coup attempt in 1982, abolished all his political opponents and established a single-party state. In the absence of an effective opposition Moi managed to win the elections in 1992 and 1997. 1991 saw re-birth of multi-party elections and it reached a crescendo in 2002 with the clamour to overthrow Moi becoming stronger.

2002 general elections was a watershed year for Kenya when Moi was constitutionally barred from contesting and Mwai Kibaki contesting under the banner of National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) won a landslide mandate and became the third president of Kenya. However the coalition partners of the NARC fell out over differences resulting in Kibaki dismissing his cabinet and appointing a new cabinet. Kibaki announced his intention to contest the 2007 presidential elections under the party Party of National Unity.

Kenya, like many African countries, is a rich mixture of diverse ethnic groups. The diversity in the ethnicity is at times seen as a hindrance to progress with the various groups pulling the country along different lines and the constant fear of ethnic violence hangs like the proverbial Damocles' sword over the Kenyans.

Kenya has more than 40 different ethnic groups. The majority of them are Kikuyus (almost 21%), Meru (5%), Luos (14%), Kalenjin, Maasai, Kamba, Samburu, Digo, Kisii and Luhyas. The main tribes have their origins from the Bantus (from Western Africa), the Nilotic (from Sudan) and the Hamitic (from Ethiopia and Somalia.) Passions run high among the various tribes and borders on the violent at times.

2007 witnessed a race between three presidential aspirants - the incumbent Mwai Kibaki of the PNU, Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), and Kalonzo Musyoka of the ODM-Kenya. Opinion polls leading to the elections gave wafer-thin majorities to Raila odinga and 2007 elections are arguably the closest elections Kenya has ever had.

Elections were held on the 27th December and results started to show that Raila Odinga was beginning to gain a lead over the others. Gradually the lead began to get smaller and smaller and this led to accusations from the ODM that the results were getting rigged and manipulated by the incumbent government. In order to scale down mounting tension the Election Commission of Kenya (ECK) had to suspend announcing the results till late on Sunday the 30th December. Finally amid a lot of accusations from the opponents, the ECK declared Mwai Kibaki as the president-elect and within hours Mwai Kibaki was sworn-in for a second term as the Honorable President of Kenya.

The announcement of the election results have led to escalating tensions throughout the country and violent protests have begun to rock some major towns and cities. Rumors are rife that Odinga might be sworn in as President of a parallel government. The country is facing probably its worst crisis in almost 4 decades and people are waiting with bated breath to see how the situation unfurls.

African countries are blessed with nature's best resources and have the potential to be world leaders. However the continent has been plagued by differences among the various ethnic groups even within the same country. Remember the Rwanda Genocide that claimed the lives of more than 800,000 innocent civilians in 100 days of mayhem while the world watched in silence? The cause for such a large-scale disaster was entirely rooted in ethnic differences.

Another plight of African nations is the power-crazy nature of several dictators that have come and gone by and looted their own country's wealth and stashed it away in foreign banks. Taken together, the ethnic differences and the dictatorial qualities of some leaders, has resulted in years and years of suffering for the common man in Africa and almost stagnant economic growth in spite of being blessed with abundant natural wealth.

In order to usher in peace and prosperity, the African people should bury their ethnic differences and work as one in their individual countries and take the nation forward. Otherwise it will be a perennial case of one step forward and two backwards.