Clean Election Campaign diary: Wanjiru Mungai writes about her experience of working with a campaign to end corruption in Kenyan politics. (Kenya Elections).

On the evening of 29 December last year, Samuel Kivuitu, the Chairman of Kenya's Electoral Commission announced the victory of Mwai Kibaki in the presidential elections, bringing to end the 24-year presidency of Daniel Arap Moi. Kenyans were bursting with excitement.

The next morning I go into town at around eight in the morning. People are everywhere, dancing, shouting, crying, making their way to Uhuru Park in central Nairobi. Everyone is happy. A new day is dawning. I believe that as it dawns, it will bring new and good things for the people of this country. I truly long for that day: when younger people like me will no longer carry burdens meant for a thousand backs, and will be assured of their children and grandchildren's lives.

I'm not asking for a Jaguar in every homestead; I'm looking for the day when hard work will be rewarded. I'm glad because I know I am not the only one thirsting for that. And I'm glad too because this day will not be long in coming. I want to believe: with a news reporter I heard the other day, that 'Freedom is coming tomorrow, only that tomorrow is today'.

The Clean Elections Campaign (CEC) is an effort to speed up this process. During the last elections, we called on the electorate to pledge that they would not be party to any violence or corruption, and that they would report corrupt practices.

To obtain a voters card, one must have a national identity card, which is issued to Kenyan citizens when they become 18. In previous elections, identity cards were not issued on time and many people could not register as voters. In the recent elections, we successfully petitioned the government to speed up the process of issuing identity cards. The Electoral Commission also accepted our request to set up more centres for voter registration.

In various parts of the country, supporters of the CEC addressed meetings organized by parliamentary and presidential candidates. Our purpose was to sensitize people on the importance of voting and how to go about it. We made it clear that we were non-partisan--our aim was to see the democratic process function fairly.

We sent leaflets about the campaign to parts of the country which we could not visit. And we liaised with residents in those areas who were willing to conduct seminars and workshops.

There were numerous other initiatives:

* Joseph Wainaina of Ndaragwa liaised with headmasters to send the CEC leaflet to every parent through the schoolchildren.

* Two brothers, both taxi drivers operating in two big towns, distributed the leaflets and asked the residents of those towns to support the campaign.

* In total, we printed and distributed 140,000 leaflets, 40,000 of which were donated by ColourPrint Ltd. With more funds this figure would have been higher.

* We sent petitions to all the political parties asking them to make their followers aware of the need to maintain peace and shun bribery during the elections, and to support the CEC as a whole.

* We sent leaflets to all the senior leaders in both the previous government and the current, National Rainbow Coalition, one. NARC helped distribute CEC leaflets throughout the country.

* Many young people were involved and trained in monitoring the elections.

* We told some of the election observers about the campaign, and warned them about potential problems, such as vote rigging, that we saw in previous elections.

The elections have happened. But the campaign continues. We will not stop until the whole political process is transformed.