By Momanyi Juma
The loss for Raila in his AUC bid was imminent in spite of the razzmatazz and funfair it excited, especially among his traditional supporters mainly of Luo extraction. This loss has indeed united Kenyans in a big way. The happiness and carnival mood experienced across the width and bredth of Kenyan territory is proudly sponsored by Raila’s loss.
Raila was set for failure ab initio. His failure was occassioned by a number of factors which include but not limited to the following:
First, the vagueness of Kenya’s foreign policy, which seemingly is known and understood by only one man, the president.
I doubt if, even the minister in charge of the foreign affairs docket can clearly explain what Kenya’s foreign policy is. Our alignment to various regional blocks, our relationship with traditional allies like the West and the entire commonwealth, how we relate to the East, both Eastern Europe, read Russia and Asia-China, and our responsiveness to global crises as and when they occur, is not clear at all. Nothing has exposed our soft underbelly more than the crisis in Eastern DRC, the abduction of Uganda’s Kizza Besigye Kifeefe and the extradition of the Turkish nationals who had sought refuge in Kenya. Nobody would trust a candidate from such a country to lead a continental body.
As Shakepeare once said in his masterpiece, Romeo and Juliet, violent delights lead to violent ends. Our president took up his role as Kenya’s number one with such gusto and begun running all over the place like a know-it-all guru. He did this in total disregard of the presence of his peers and contemporaries in the region and across Africa, some of whom have been around for a while and are now old hands in this game.
This must have rattled most of them, presidents, in a wrong way and they’d do everything they could to stop him in his tranches and teach him a lesson on how not to do things. Therefore, for that reason, Raila had to lose.
Another reason that might have conspired to enigmatically bring the self professed enigma down in Addis was the outcome of Amb. Amina Mohamed’s unsuccessful bid for the same seat.
It’s not lost on people that while Kenya was pitching for Amb. Amina, Ruto was second in command and he was quite lukewarm towards this bid despite his position as the country’s DP. He perceived Amina to be Uhuru’s project and therefore he didn’t find it necessary to support her.
A few years later, he’s back with his own project and it beats logic how he would expect to garner support when most African heads of state knew his position then in regard to Kenya’s candidacy for the same seat. In fact, some of those voters were Uhuru’s buddies and therefore it was easy for them to show him the middle finger.
The other reason why Raila was destined to fail was the political heat back home here. The people of Kenya are an angry mass. Poor governance, unpopular and poorly thought out policies, blatant abuse of human rights, the president’s dalliance with people considered dissidents in their countries of origin and of questionable character, has led Kenyans to make defeaning noise that has been heard to high heavens.
The spirited campaign that the kenyan Gen-Zs made by sponsoring hashtags, and filling all the spaces of continental leadership generally, and African union leadership in particular, couldn’t be ignored by right thinking heads of state in Africa. In fact, our Gen-Zs literally campaigned for the winning candidate.
This is undeniable! And while some pundits may opine that by our Gen-Z decampaigning our own in favour of a foreigner is an act of unpatriotism, I aver that these young Kenyans stand tall as the most patriotic Kenyans who should be crowned by the highest honours Kenya ever awards her heroes and heroines. They’ve made us proud.
Finally, the hullabaloo and pandemonium the Kenyan leaders caused in Addis Ababa, was Raila’s Achile heel. It was utter foolishness for the entire country to move from Nairobi to Addis Ababa with pomp and chest thumping. They painted a picture of a confused country with a leadership bouyed by lopsided priorities, but more astoundingly, this show of arrogance left no doubt whatsoever in the minds of African leaders and the world at large about what kind of a leader Raila could have been in the most unfortunate event he got elected. It’s as if he was going to serve the interests of Kenyans and not those of continental Africa.
This must have rekindled old memories of what led to the disintegration of the once powerful East African Community in the mid 70s. Kenya is known for her unbridled aggression and therefore treated with suspicion by her neighbours. The more than four hundred top notch kenyans, including no lesser a person than the Speaker of the National Assembly, the DG of NIS, a handful governors, a host of parliamentarians from both houses, and worse still, Raila’s own children including the notorious one, now EALA Mp! How could he possibly win when it’s so clear how this position had been so personalized!
However, as a country we need to retreat and learn our lessons even as we lick our wounds in shame. We must know that our leaders have put our country on a wrong trajectory and it’s our onerous responsibility to put things right by all means legally possible at the slightest opportunity.
It’s evidently clear that either way, Ruto has succeeded in putting Raila in his place. He has proved that he intended well for him but the poor son of Jaramogi could possibly be under a spell that renders him completely unelectable. Raila now remains with one option, to support Ruto without equivocation. In case he turns around and begin doing what he knows best, rebellion, the whole world would see him for who he is, an ingrate whose insatiable appetite for self aggrandizement has no match! Now Ruto can continue scruffing him to whichever slaughter house for all we care!
But remember, Kenya is happy with the dose Raila and his ilk were served. Let him eat his humble pie in silence!
