Today marks the last day on the 2017 calendar. We can all agree that this year has been quite an eventful one with so much happening in this region called East Africa. Around this time many are taking stock of what they year has been for them and also noting down targets and goals for the New Year 2018. Some people will of course simply be charging the year and making their 2017 goals to appear as the 2018 goals.

As I had predicted at the beginning of the year, 2017 was indeed defined mainly by the political moments in Kenya. The month of August saw Rwanda holding its general election without any trouble and soon after that the Kenyans also woke to go and cast their votes. It is the Kenyan election with all its twists and turns that had the whole region glued to their information streams following each step.

The election in August came and went with a fellow eating Githeri on the queue as the star attraction for some. However there were several cases of violence, brutality and indeed rigging. The opposition cried foul and ran to the courts even after acting reluctant to do so. As the court case went on many assumed it would be the usual end where evidence presented is said to be insufficient.

But alas, Justice David Maraga and his team delivered a shocking verdict forcing a repeat of the same elections arguing that the previous exercise did not meet the threshold of an election held according to the elections law. The repeat election was held in October but it also had its own drama especially the part where the leading opposition candidate choose to boycott and called on his supporters to boycott the election. A call they heeded to.

There were some court cases still but eventually, the incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in as the winner of the election and East Africa’s largest economy embarked on a slow but steady journey called moving on. The opposition continues to cry foul but it appears as though the country in general has licked its wounds and trudged on.

In Uganda the year has been largely about the debate on whether to remove the age limit for presidential candidates to allow those above the age of 75 to contest for the office. The opposition members knowing how limiting their numbers were, tried to put up a fight in the chambers of parliament but were subdued by the security forces deployed that day. When the bill came up for discussion once again, the opposition were outnumbered and it sailed through without much trouble.

The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) also served us some rather uncalled for drama when Tanzania and Burundi seemed to throw the spanner in the works regarding the election of Rwanda’s Martin Ngoga to serve as the Speaker of the EALA. The office that is held on rotational basis was expected to smoothly go Rwanda’s way until Burundi and Tanzania also had candidates for the same post. Ngoga still took the day when the ballots were counted.

In the neighbourhood, the Democratic Republic of Congo has managed to sail thought 2017 without holding their general election. There were pockets of trouble here and that but the election still didn’t happen. We wait to see how 2018 will go for our Congolese. From here we wish them all the best. The region loves and prefers peace at the moment.

Farther away in West Africa, the legendary football star George Weah, became the president-elect of Liberia after another close election. I would love to see how he brings lessons learnt on the pitch and infusing them into the running of country. George Weah had an illustrious football career that saw him being awarded African Footballer of the Year, European Footballer of the Year and FIFA World Footballer of the Year.

More importantly, I hope his life story serves as an inspiration to many young Liberians not to give up on their dreams. George Weah has failed to win the presidential elections on all previous attempts but he still kept pursuing his goal and is now waiting to serve his people in the top office.  His life story will clearly inspire many more.

In the USA, Donald Trump is just getting around the corner of a year in office and he continues to shock every one alive by his ways. As we head into 2018, allow me to wish all my readers a Happy New Year.

Views, expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the New Times Publications.