Kenyans voting for second Parliament

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33665, 15 October 1974, Page 19

Kenyans voting for second Parliament

(N.Z.P A -Reuter—Copyright) NAIROBI, October 14. Kenyans vote today to elect their second Parliament since independence. President Jomo Kenyatta, who has already been returned unopposed for a third term, appealed for a calm and a demonstration of political maturity.

At stake are 158 seats in the National Assembly contested by some 740 candidates, all representing the ruling Kenya African National Union (K.A.N.U.), the country’s only political party since 1969.

But although Kenya is a de facto one-party state, the election is far from a rubber

stamp affair. Apart from the President, only a few candidates have been returned unopposed. These include the Vice-President, Mr Daniel Aramp Moi, the Minister of Housing, Mr Paul Ngei, and the Minister of State in the President’s office, Mr Mbiyu Koinanage. But apart from these, all ministers face the electorate, and there are no certainties in Kenyan politics. Among those believed to be facing a difficult task is the Foreign Minister, Dr Njoroge Mungai, Americaneducated and a popular figure at the United Nations. Dr Mungai, mentioned as a possible successor to President Kenyatta now over 80, is being challenged in his Nairobi suburban constituency of Dagoretti by Dr Johnstone

Muthiora, who is accusing him of constituency neglect. Another fight being watched closely is that in the Bondo constituency where the Minister for Natural Resources, Mr William Odongo Omamo, is trying to retain the seat he inherited from former VicePresident, Oginga Odinga, barred by the ruling party from standing again. In the large Nairobi suburb of Langata, Mr Philip Leakey, the only white Kenyan seeking a Parliamentary seat, is among the 10 candidates. Mr Leakey, son of the late anthropologist, Dr Louis Leakey, said that he had entered politics in an effort to arouse the political conscience of white Kenyans. He has accused them of sitting on the fence and not playing their full role as citizens of the country. With so many candidates in the constituency and at least two from each of the leading tribes, it is thought possible that Mr Leakey could become the first white to be elected to the Kenyan Parliament. t There are some 40.000 Europeans in a population of 10,940,000 in the country.