Photo: http://www.google.co.ke

Google has created a special doodle on its Kenya homepage google.co.ke to mark Kenya's historic elections.

Gatundu — Charity begins at home and for Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, his arrival at the Mutomo Primary School polling station in his native Gatundu South shortly after 11:20am on Monday was the start of a journey that the Jubilee Alliance presidential flag bearer hopes will end up at the highest seat on the land at State House, Nairobi.

With his fellow voters and other supporters who had waited for the man they hope will be the second son from the area to lead the nation following in the footsteps of his father, Jomo Kenyatta, the pioneer president of Kenya ushering him in song and dance, Uhuru took about five minutes to cast his ballots.

"The process was good, I was only there for some three minutes and it is my call to everyone to remain calm since we have reports there are problems around the country. Every Kenyan who wants to vote will get a chance to vote.

"Tutaboa (we shall make it) this time and I'm confident we are winning through the faith of God but we are ready to accept any outcome, God bless you," the leader of the Jubilee Coalition said moments after completing the process that took others hours to complete.

Flanked by his spouse Margaret, his children and outgoing Juja MP, William Kabogo, Uhuru, dressed in a grey checked coat, white shirt and dark trousers kept his supporters waiting, arriving at Mutomo Primary where he is the patron almost two and a half hours after his expected arrival.

Here, he conducted himself with the ease of a man at home as he paused to acknowledge the well wishes of those in the queue sometimes in his mother tongue, as the man they call 'Ithe wa Kamau' (Kamau's father).

Police had a difficult task of containing voters who had already completed the process who were keen to glance the leader they hope will be the fourth president of the Republic as they were asked to clear the area.

Assisted voters, the sick and elderly were ushered in first and following a number of false alarms, the black Range Rover ferrying the Jubilee leader invited pandemonium once cited as the residents broke into song and cheer.

A battery of local and international journalists angled for the best shots and at some point, their jostling led to ballot boxes in the class he was voting to fall as one of the front runners for the presidency filled out his ballot in a tiny booth.

His spouse, who had voted earlier in St Mary's Nairobi, stood patiently behind him. Then smiling to the cameras, Kenyatta dropped the various ballots in their respective boxes hoping like most outside the polling centre that his second bid for the top job following the failed attempt in 2002 would turn out to be successful.

After addressing the frenzied media, he left to more song, dance and ululations as some enthusiastic supporters chased after his top of the range vehicle through the winding dirt road until it disappeared into the tarmac.

Mutwiri is a winner of the Sport Award at the 2008 CNN Africa Journalist Awards. He is a student of Communications at the University of Nairobi and holds a diploma in Mass Communication from KIMC.