Big names tumble in Kenya election

By Wangui Kanina

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's Nobel laureate, its vice-president and a dozen government ministers lost their parliamentary seats in an election sweeping away some of the nation's political old guard, TV tallies showed on Friday.

Defeat for Wangari Maathai -- the internationally lauded environmentalist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 -- was widely expected after she lost the nomination for the government coalition last month and defected to a small party.

Maathai, who has failed to make the same splash locally as she has had on the world stage, lost her seat in Thursday's election in the highland constituency of Tetu, where voters have complained she has not delivered services.

Elsewhere, President Mwai Kibaki's septuagenarian vice president, Moody Awori, lost his seat in western Kenya to a newcomer after a two-decade tenure, Kenyan broadcasters said.

And 12 members of Kibaki's 32-member Cabinet also failed to win re-election on the ticket of the presidents' Party of National Unity (PNU) coalition, the TV stations said.

Members of the last parliament, dissolved prior to the presidential and legislative polls, were deeply unpopular among many Kenyans for voting to boost their salaries and benefits to make themselves among the best paid politicians in the world.

Analysts had predicted a fierce backlash against some of Kenya's political heavyweights in Thursday's vote, in part because of allegations of involvement in corruption scams.

A former deputy minister for tourism, Kalembe Ndile, who also lost his parliamentary seat, said wrangles between PNU member parties had also played a part in the defeats.

"The fighting within the PNU parties was a let down. It made the people panic and they were confused, they did not know whether small parties like mine were part of the PNU," he said.

"They began to wonder 'is Kalembe with Kibaki or not?', so they decided to go with Kalonzo because they were sure of him," he added referring to Kalonzo Musyoka, a former foreign affairs minister and presidential aspirant.

INDICTMENTS

Analysts said the defeats were an indictment of Kibaki's government and an expression of disappointment that sweeping changes promised in 2002 had not materialized, despite gains like economic growth and free primary education.

"ODM is also making these promises, a huge list of things they are going to do. It won't surprise me in five years if we saw the same happening again," said analyst Tom Wolf, referring to the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).

The defeated ministers held the portfolios of foreign affairs, information, roads, environment, agriculture, livestock, cooperatives, defense, health, science, local government and public services.

The results, which were widely reported by Kenyan media with reporters at the constituencies, still had to be ratified by the official Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK).