Dickson Wathika re-elected as Nairobi mayor.

Outgoing Nairobi mayor Dickson Wathika has been chosen by the city council to serve a second two-year term in an internal election marred by bottle- and furniture-throwing and fighting between councillors. Similar violence and allegations of corruption characterised mayoral elections in other parts of the country at the same time.

Wathika was returned to mayoral office on 19 July with 35 of the 71 votes cast, beating his sole opponent, councillor Maina Kamau, by three votes.

41-year-old Wathika was elected to the city council for the first time in 1992 and chaired the finance committee for two years (2000-2002) before becoming mayor for the first time in 2004. He has the difficult task of heading up a council that is widely considered to be inefficient and corrupt while trying to improve conditions for Nairobis over three million residents, the majority of whom live in poverty with poor access to even the most basic services and amenities.