Kenyans hold elections marking end of president's 24-year rule

ITEN, Kenya -- Kenyans vote today in elections that will end President Daniel arap Moi's 24-year rule and usher in what many hope will be a new, more prosperous era for the East African nation plagued by corruption and an ailing economy.

The contest to succeed Moi pits the ruling party's Uhuru Kenyatta against Mwai Kibaki, leader of an alliance of opposition parties, and the contrast between the two front-runners in the presidential race is huge.

Kenyatta is Moi's hand-picked choice and the son of Kenya's first president -- Jomo Kenyatta -- but at 41 and with just a year in government, he is a political novice who has never won elective office.

Kibaki is a 71-year-old political veteran who was Moi's vice president from 1978 to 1988. He has been a leading opposition figure since multiparty politics were reintroduced in 1991, and came second to Moi in 1997 elections in which the opposition was divided along tribal lines.

Politically motivated ethnic violence and allegations of vote rigging marred elections in 1992 and again in 1997. Hundreds were killed and thousands were forced to flee their homes as the ruling party made sure it would win in areas where they were facing strong challenges from the opposition.

But both Kibaki and Kenyatta claim to represent change.

Kenyatta argues that he represents a new generation of leaders, while Kibaki says his opposition alliance, the National Rainbow Coalition, or NARC, can right the wrongs of the past 39 years of government under the Kenya African National Union party, known as KANU.

Both candidates, who are members of Kenya's largest tribe, the Kikuyu, say ending rampant corruption and turning around the economy -- East Africa's largest and most important -- will be their priorities.

In 2000 Kenya experienced negative economic growth for the first time since independence. About 54 percent of the population lives on less than $1 a day and the majority of the population do not have access to water or electricity.

Moi, who became president in 1978 after Jomo Kenyatta's death, is constitutionally obliged to step down at the end of his current term, but he will remain as chairman of KANU, which has run the country since independence from Britain in 1963.

"Many people are still ignorant here. They have been worshipping KANU for the last 39 years, that is why they have been electing corrupt leaders," said John Changwony, a farmer in Iten, about 165 miles northwest of Nairobi.

Changwony is a member of Moi's Kalenjin tribe, and Iten, a farming town nestled in a valley surrounded by lush green hills, has traditionally been a KANU stronghold. The 50-year-old ekes out a living for his family of six children growing maize, the staple food in Kenya, and believes a NARC victory is needed to turn Kenya's fortunes around.

More than half of Kenya's 30 million people live on less than $1 a day and the vast majority are forced to rely heavily on the state-owned, pro-KANU Kenya Broadcasting Corp. for their news.

Seven TV stations broadcast in Nairobi, the capital and an opposition stronghold, but only one private station -- the Kenya Television Network -- reaches other major cities. The rural vote is regarded as key to the outcome of the presidential election.

Some 10.5 million people have registered to vote for president, 210 members of parliament and 2,104 local councilors at 18,366 polling stations around the country.