The election is over and life is back to normal

The election is all over. The losing side lost on all 9 issues that the Court considered (of which technology did come up in some of them) and the losing Presidential candidate (and Vice Presidential candidate) accepted the defeat (whilst of course disagreeing with the Court's decisions) so everything passed off very smoothly.

Not having any more uncertainty or further elections is certainly good for the economy; everything back to normal and business as usual. Investors and businesses now have some clarity about the overall economic environment and will soon know who the various ministers are as well as the initial priorities of the government. They may be re-reading Ruto's manifesto, though they will be aware that reality is not likely to be kind and priorities will have to be made, particularly to address cost of living issues as well as debt and currency depreciation concerns; all of which are interlinked. His key theme has always been supporting the "little guy", the "hustler", the "farmer" in a bottom up economic approach. Let's see what that looks like, and if it can work, in practice.

As is common here, many of those who were part of the coalition that lost have switched to the other side so that they can be on the side that has power. This made the initial parliamentary arithmetic much easier when voting for key positions (originally both sides were very closely tied). Hopefully there will still be an opposition left in parliament once the dust settles, and that there will be some leadership of that opposition, presuming that Raila Odinga will now make way for some younger leaders to take on the mantle.

Hopefully there will not be any pettiness related to retribution as there were some very heated words said by different sides in the run-up to the election. There will be a smooth handover at least, with President Kenyatta (who did not support Ruto) already stating that to be his plan. The Court has shown its independence yet again, though it may have to deal with various corruption cases against the new Vice President working its way through the system.

There have been a lot of ambitious statements made, particularly related to corruption, and it will be interesting to see if anything significant happens in the next few months. Most Kenyans are quite skeptical of their politicians, regarding most of them as corrupt, no matter what side they are on, and expecting that now they have spent so much money on their campaigns they will need to find a way to get their money back. Many of those who supported the winning side will expect their rewards. Will this skepticism be warranted or will the new regime be different? Will there be some good apples amongst the local government leadership, where some of the Governors have started their new terms showing they mean business?

The inauguration is on Tuesday, bringing with it yet another Public Holiday, and shortly afterwards the process of vetting and appointing Ministers will begin so we will wait and see what happens.