The Kenyan election, to be held on December 29, is the second multi-party poll since independence in 1963. If President Daniel Arap Moi wins he will enter his 20th year in power. He has insisted this election campaign will be his last. Martin Dawes reports on President Moi's legacy.

President Moi

President Moi is asking voters to endorse his record and that of the party Kanu, which has held sway since independence.

He says he wants to leave a legacy of one, strong and united Kenya. But violence and division seem never far away.

Violent crime is increasing and deaths are frequent. Police recently fought armed robbers for more than 5 hours in a city industrial area.

Police fought armed robbers for five hours

Crime is bred in the abject poverty which grips the majority of Kenyans. Disease is also rife.

Emergency clinics are being set up in a Nairobi slum to treat victims of cholera. The slum has no sanitation because that might make the slum permanent. The site is on government land, and often areas like this are sold in a mysterious process which brings huge profits to the rich friends of the ruling party.

At least opposition parties like the reformist Safina are now allowed to campaign and hold rallies. But, it is not alone in alleging widespread rigging, intimidation and fraud by the ruling party.

Richard Leakey campaigning

Richard Leakey, Safina: "I think if Kanu comes back through rigging, this country will move rapidly into trouble because the people of this country are thoroughly fed up with bad government."

President Moi is not acting as if victory is assured but his party is confident and dismisses allegations of rigging.

However, the rapid decline of Kenya's infrastructure is all too visible. And even government supporters admit the need for change.
 

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