Kajiado, Rift Valley, Kenya — Chubby Nairesia, 39, comes from Maasai country, Kajiado District in Kenyas Rift Valley Province. She worked in the hotel industry as a cost controller, but is currently unemployed. Women make up more than half Kenya's population of 30 million.
On Friday, Nairesia and 10.5 million other Kenyan voters are eligible to go to the polls in the countrys landmark elections, which will see the departure of veteran President Daniel arap Moi after 24 years in power.
Moi anointed Uhuru Kenyatta, 41, the son of Kenyas founder president, as the candidate of his governing Kenya National African Union (Kanu) party. Nairesia says she will vote for Kenyatta, because he represents a new generation of Kenyan leaders and will bring change and jobs to the country.
allAfrica.coms Ofeibea Quist-Arcton caught up with Chubby Nairesia as she waited for Uhuru Kenyattas campaign helicopter to touch down, before he addressed a campaign rally in Kajiado, as he criss-crossed the country trying to drum up support for his presidential bid.
Madam, may I ask who youre going to vote for?
Uhuru Kenyatta. He is a clean man coming with new agendas and projects and he is a young man who can take Kenya upwards.
Do you think he has a chance of winning?
Definitely, I think there is no doubt he will win.
What are you expecting from this presidential candidate?
He was working in tourism. Tourism had gone down, but when he joined the tourism board it went upwards, until he joined politics. He will bring the young people jobs. He has an agenda to make our country what it was before.
There is a lot I expect from him. From the campaign I have heard him talking. He has actually talked to us about projects. Here in Kajiado we dont have any industries and companies. Uhuru Kenyatta has promised that he will bring projects, like jua kali - small industries, which should bring up the youth who are unemployed.
So you are looking for jobs in Kajiado?
We are looking for development. We want our country to be developed more than it is, especially in my constituency, here, where I live, its my home. My profession is as a hotelier. I worked in the hotel industry for 16 years, but at the moment Im jobless. I hope Uhuru will make us all go back to jobs or projects or business. He will make us retrieve our economy and that's the most important thing.
Old men, women and youth are crying out for the economy of Kenya. And the people who we believe might have corrupted it are the people who have defected to the opposition. Now Uhuru is alone with new people.
What would you say are the main problems you are facing here in Kenya and specifically in the Rift Valley where you come from?
In Kenya as a whole - and I wont talk about just our district, because it is uniform across the country - our economy has really gone downwards because of mismanagement of the people who were there before. Our economy is actually destroyed. And we hope Uhuru is going to retrieve it and bring it up to where it used to be do.
What makes you think that Uhuru Kenyatta is the man to revive Kenyas ailing economy?
Because hes a clean man. He has never been in politics before. He is a learned man, he has done political science, he has done economics. He is well trained in the politics side and he has got no association with the people who were there before, like all those who have defected and gone to the opposition
As I said, all the old politicians in Kanu have now defected, so he stands a chance to make it on his own, with totally new people in the cabinet.
How can you say that when Uhuru Kenyatta was handpicked as the governing Kanu partys presidential candidate by President Daniel arap Moi, who has been in power for almost a quarter of a century? Kenyatta is surely the anointed successor of President Moi.
Moi has retired and he is going home and he has nothing to do with Uhuru. He just appointed a clean person who has never been in Kanu, with the corruption that was there.
What about those who say that Uhuru Kenyatta is a political novice and presidential candidate, but should he win the election President Moi will still be the power behind the throne, he will still reign from behind the scenes?
I dont believe in that, because I believe he has resigned. All that President Moi did was to bring in a clean person who has never been in politics and all the corruption of all those other people.
As President Moi said, he appointed Uhuru because Uhuru has never been in that government before and he is well learned and will run the government in a new way that will bring our economy back.
Uhuru Kenyatta stood in the parliamentary race in 1997 and was not elected. He failed to get the seat for his home area. Do you think that is a good track record, someone who wants to be the next president of Kenya?
He had just come back and he was appointed before even he ran for the constituency. So I dont think that is a bad start. We see everyone who is now in the opposition has been once or twice in Kanu and they did not clean it up and did not mend it. Now is not the time they are going to mend it. So, lets have a totally new person in parliament who has never been in that position of power. Let us take a chance.
Do you think Uhuru Kenyatta has enough experience to govern Kenya, the most important economy in East Africa and a leader in the region?
Personally, I think he has because everyone starts from university and then goes out to manage and be a director. It doesnt matter that he only has experience in industry. What matters is, is that person talented enough and is that person aggressive enough and does that person have the power to bring out the product needed?
Mrs Nairesia, do you think people are going to vote for Uhuru Kenyatta because he is the son of Kenyas founding president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta? Do you think its his political pedigree and credentials that count?
No, I dont think so. We Kenyans at the moment are well educated and we understand politics. We are not electing Uhuru Kenyatta because of a sort of political succession, because he is the son of Kenyatta. We are electing Uhuru for the power and what he will deliver to us after he wins, as president.
And what will that be? What do you expect Uhuru Kenyatta to deliver as president?
I repeat, he is going to deliver development, revive our economy and bring jobs for the youth and the women who do not have jobs, the people who are jobless.
Do you think the election will be free and fair?
I think it will be fair and free. As the campaign has been going on the radio, and you people here questioning us, everybody is free to vote for the person (s)he wants. I believe it will be different from previous elections.
Intrigued by the conversation, an old woman called Elizabeth insisted on adding her views on the election and the Kanu candidate, Uhuru Kenyatta.
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Uhuru Kenyatta is like my son. I have come here only to see that son. Ill vote for you, even if Im sick, Mr Uhuru Kenyatta. I have come here because of Uhuru Kenyatta and Ill vote for him.
Mama, what do you expect from Uhuru Kenyatta if he becomes your new president?
Peace and development, to help us, the people of Kenya. I want him to be the president and we will all be happy. When we heard that he was standing for the presidency, we were all happy, we, the old women, and we prayed for him.
We dont know anybody else, we only know Uhuru Kenyatta who is going to bring peace and unity to this country. That is the person I have chosen from the depths of my heart and I bless him. I am spitting on my breasts, which is our tradition here, because it is the breasts that suckle children, so I am blessing Uhuru. I pray from him, because he came from a womans womb, because he is like my own child and he will make it. He will become a president.
I have chosen Uhuru to be what I want him to be, the president. Uhuru is chosen not only by me, but by God and by all the old women in this country. I am very happy and I was very happy when I heard that Uhuru was going to become the next president of Kenya. I pray to God that he gets the position as the president of Kenya.
Mama, what about the main opposition candidate, Mwai Kibaki?
Well, I cant talk about Kibaki, I am talking about Uhuru, my child. When he becomes president, he will take care of us and I wont be wearing these tattered clothes and I wont be sick like this. He is the kind of young man who has mercy on people and who delivers things to people. I dont want to mix matters here, I will talk only about Uhuru.
