In June 1997, Sharma predicted that a woman would emerge a compromise candidate in Kenya's troubled opposition ranks, reports VITALIS OMONDI

Mr Mahendra Sharma, the young Indian astrologer who stunned Kenyans a decade ago by his accurate predictions about the disintegration of the original Forum for the Registration of Democracy (FORD) political party and the eventual triumph of Kanu in the first multiparty election, predicts that Kanu will carry the day in the 2002 elections which he says will be held slightly before the end of December, with a "Young Turk" being elected the president.

"According to planetary positions, I see a smooth transition for Kenya. There will hardly be any violence during the general election," said Mr Sharma. "A young president will take over but he will not weld immense powers as is the case with the current president." The economy, says the stargazer, will pick up strongly after February 2003.

"The period between 1991 and 2002 was bad for Kenya," said the star gazer. "But the foundations of the country have not been shaken. The gloomy period is ending on February 12, 2003."

In a series of predictions some of which give up-to-date forecasts about world affairs, Mahendra Sharma, 34, predicted President Moi would make known his choice of a successor before the end of March.

Sharma catalogues compelling accounts of personalities, diseases, war and natural disasters, movements in currencies, financial markets, gold and terrorist activity across the globe, in a 129 page book – 2002 World Prophesies – published in September 2001. It covers 95 countries.

The man whose prophecies over the past 10 years have proved uncannily accurate, however avers he is not 100 per cent correct.

"Many astrological predictions that I have made so far concerning different countries and people have been more than 80 per cent accurate.

"I owe the credit for this accuracy to my esteemed grandfather, my father's guru and Nostradamus." 

Sharma was born in 1967 in a small town in North India to a Hindu Brahmin family. His father and grandfather had been astrologers and at the tender age of nine he was initiated into the craft. At the age of 14, he joined an institution in Bombay that taught astrology. After scouring books on Nostradamus, he set out to predict world events. 

His first public prediction was made in 1989-90 about the Gulf War.

After the war had begun, he predicted the day it would end, and turned out to be accurate.

In June 1997, he predicted that a woman would emerge a compromise candidate in Kenya's troubled opposition ranks and win the December election with majority votes. The opposition was engrossed in unity talks similar to the ones going on now.

After surveying his charts, Sharma decreed that the woman would win the presidential elections in December with majority votes.

Social Democratic Party's Charity Ngilu was in the running. Not only did the opposition fail to agree on a compromise candidate, Mrs Ngilu came a poor fourth. 

This time, however, he foresees the opposition parties coalescing under two groups but adds that they will fare worse than during the 1997 election. "There will be two main mergers in the opposition camp after April 10 but Kanu will win the election. Compared with the last general election, the opposition this time will perform even worse."

Sharma says, that six months ago, he advised Kanu to be cautious in the merger with NDP and not change its name or logo if it wanted to survive as a unit.

Against expectations, a Valentine's Day parley between the two agreed that the new party retains the name Kanu as well as the emblem. 

Had they not heeded his advice, Sharma says, the party would have had no future. He says the NDP will be buried in the new political dispensation, but some disgruntled elements in the party may try to revive it around May.

The new government will be a mix of both the young and old guard, but the young turks will hold key positions, he says. 

He paints a rosy picture for the Kenyan economy from 2003 and says because the government will be stable the donors will open the aid taps and rains will be sufficient. 

He predicts that the Kenya shilling will strengthen and gain value against the major currencies of the world. Land and property prices, he says, will rise due to the inflow of funds and the improvement of of infrastructure during 2002 –2003. "The current government will take serious steps towards privatisation and slowly will decline because of increase opportunities for big business." 

On the regional scene, he says the relationship between the three East African Community (EAC) member states is likely to grow stronger with the three states taking definitive steps towards achieving convertibility of their currencies.

The predictions for Uganda are more ominous. He says that at the end of the 2002–2003 period, Uganda could undergo a bigger crisis than during Idi Amin's time "because Jupiter will pass through Mars." "In the year 2002, there will be internal fights between different groups within Uganda." Uganda will fail in its military adventure in the Congo and at the end of 2002 and 2003 could see bloodshed because of political killings."

Tanzania however will have a very copious 2002. The economy will grow very significantly and there will be a major inflow of investments from local and international investors. "The export and imports market will rise and agriculture will do extremely well because of good rains," he says.

He sees boarder skirmishes between Uganda and Rwanda escalating after April 2002 and getting worse after May 11 and says that Kenya would step in to play a key role in resolving the crisis. "There will be great tension between the two, but I see Kenya playing a bigger role in sorting out the crisis."

On the global arena, he foresees a tough time for US President George W. Bush, Indian Prime Minister Atal Vajpayee Bihari, and Pakistani strongman, General Pervez Musharaf. He predicts that Vajpayee and Pavez will not complete the year 2002. 

The Middle East War will escalate and a key personality will be assassinated. He says that a cure for aid will be discovered in the period 2002/2003 either in Kenya or South Africa but there will be a worse disease erupting in 2002 or 2003.