Monday, October 26, 2015

Raila surrounded by people waiting to buy ODM nomination tickets

January 16, 2016
By Joseph Lister Nyaringo
In a do-or-die contest by Raila Odinga next year, my free advice to him is this, even as he continues to give Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee government sleepless nights, he needs to review the way he plays his politics.

For instance, Raila needs to change tact, get rid of hangers-on and incorporate fresh minds in his final quest for the presidency. He needs to gauge the value of those who purport to be closer to him.
If I may ask, where is the Orange Democratic Movement secretary general Ababu Namwamba when he should be articulating the party agenda before the nation now that we are a year away to the next election?


Where is the energy Namwamba portrayed when he traversed the country in choppers under “team fresh” fighting to become secretary general of ODM which he eventually won? Even nominated senator Agnes Zani who is Namwamba’s deputy is muted.


These party leaders have left Raila to cook, serve and wash the dishes! I’m sure the two are intelligent enough to know the work of a secretary general in a political party. Even most Cord governors are silent. They have forgotten that they are politicians with a responsibility to defend the coalition’s agenda in order to win in 2017.


Raila has unraveled deep scandals in Jubilee government but his crusade decapitates immediately because he lacks people in his party and the Cord Coalition stir the momentum which eventually gives Jubilee’s Duale, Kithure Kindiki and William Ruto room to launch vicious as well as spinning the truth.
Have you ever wondered why Jubilee MPs cannot replace Duale as majority leader in parliament despite making many misleading statements?


Ruto’s words flow like honey when he takes the microphone. He has the capacity to cry and evoke sympathy from the hoi polloi. The most powerful propaganda which cost Raila in 2013 was when he successfully convinced his community that it’s Raila who took him to the ICC.


Listening to Uhuru, he sounds like a Barack Obama replica – a super statesman, focused, intelligent and sharp. It’s like has all the solutions to the problems facing Kenya which is not the case.
On whether Cord has any contingency measures to dispel the ICC notion, it remains to be seen. In fact, people in Ruto’s turf still reflect Raila on bad light as far as his woes in the ICC are concerned.
Raila needs strong people who will spur the momentum of his offensive against Jubilee. That is why I suggest that he brings on board Barrack Muluka who is witty and a calm strategist to articulate the Cord agenda to Kenyans.


Secondly, he needs to ask Miguna Miguna to rejoin Cord. After all, Raila forgave former President Moi, who detained him for almost a decade and ended up working with him in Kanu.


I say so because even if they broke apart, Miguna proved to be one of the strongest and fiercest defenders of Raila before and after the grand coalition government. He has enough fire in his belly to tackle the vicious Jubilee led by Uhuru, Ruto and Aden in readiness to 2017.


Raila has cried so many tears for Kenya. Today, he is on the same trajectory with his late father during the early 1990s. Many Kenyans who support him are afraid that his ascendancy to the Kenyan throne is on a delicate phase.


It’s sad that Raila is surrounded by people who don’t advance his political philosophy. Governors, senators, MPs, MCAs, are only waiting to queue at Orange House to “buy” nominations and start singing “baba” in 2017 in order to be elected.


He also needs to take a tactical retreat from the limelight. He needs to start using the 16th law of power where you use absence to increase respect and honour. Appearing on media cameras in perpetuity will reflect you as a king without prince and princes. I don’t mean that he should completely hibernate from the limelight but just to play it cool and let others fight your wars.


There is no doubt the scandal-ridden Jubilee government has failed and needs to be replaced next year.Corruption and tribalism have hit a crescendo. Dubious deals are done to make people billionaires overnight.


Therefore, those at the frontline as an alternative government, needs to put their acts before 2017. It’s worthy to remember that, elections are literally won now, not in the election year.

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