As a true Kenyan patriot brought up in a cosmopolitan environment in a global village with many friends across Kenya’s tribal affiliations, I believe I can comment about Agwambo’s rising star without being labeled with a tribal tag. Being a Luhya married outside my own tribe is sufficient vindication of my tribal neutrality.
A lot has been said about this eloquent, charismatic man from the lake shore and it is true that just like Machiavelli, even those who hate him secretly like him. Some lies that have been peddled against Raila by his political detractors border on the absurd.
Whether Agwambo who is also referred to by Wananchi as Tinga Tinga or Kitendawila, ascends to power or not in 2012, he will go down in history as a benevolent man who relates very well with the common Mwananchi.
There is no doubt that Agwambo is a wealthy man, but he is not an elite in the accepted sense of the word. Politicians who talk ill of him sometimes do so in order to remain politically relevant, or to make more money and enhance their positions with their paymasters.
When it comes to media coverage, a lot of the media houses would become bankrupt within a few months if they failed to have Agwambo on their front pages for at least a week. They have patented him and turned him into a sacred cash cow, to the extent one may reason that they give him free promotion. On the other hand, I have no doubt in my mind that they owe Agwambo some royalties.
To cut the long story short, my prediction is that Raila will win the 2012 elections albeit with some degree of hard work. However, if by a stroke of bad luck or unforeseen ingenuity by his competitors he falters and stumbles down, he will still be forceful enough politically to be in a pole position to dictate the direction of Kenyan Politics.
Agwambo, jointly with his late father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, have come to epitomize the face of Kenyan advocacy for change even when it entailed pain and suffering. Details of how Jaramogi turned down the lucrative offer by British Colonialists to ascend to power in preference for the struggle to have Jomo Kenyatta released from detention, are vividly documented by his close confidant, journalist Odinge Odera.
Although Raila is sometimes feared to be a benevolent dictator, he has often “swallowed” his pride to accommodate a lot of mudslinging from his political detractors in order to keep the current Coalition Government on course, and to usher Kenya into a new era of constitutional change which is now the envy of many leaders in Africa.
Raila has a strong personality that he asserts, sometimes to politically suicidal extremes, to bring change. Among his political competitors, he is the only listed former detainee during this era of Impunity.
It is true that he has sometimes been a rough rider when dealing with our intelligent but laid back Economist President Kibaki, but he has often attributed this to Kibaki’s Kitchen Cabinet and after all, was it not Raila who first said Kibaki Tosha?
On various corruption claims against him, his detractors have toyed with the Molasses factory, the maize scandal and Luo Union funds, but have never sufficiently gathered enough evidence to build a case on him. Raila often says he is as clean as cotton wool.
Family Values? Raila’s wife Ida Odinga struggled to bring up their children on a simple teacher’s salary at Kenya High School, when Raila was serving time in a detention. Their daughter and eldest son have been married to non-Luo Kenyans. His youngest son is also engaged to a non-Luo woman. Apart from his family ties, Raila has not been identified with any “Chips funga” stories that often soil our eminent politicians’ social standing and public scrutiny.
If the recent Churchill Live show is anything to go by, Raila still resonates very well with the youth, given the standing ovation and exuberance by every youth who attended the show.
If Agwambo was political fodder why would politicians worthy their salt seek political alliances to fight him politically? Are the Synovate (polling) surveys regularly doctored to support the now evident school of thought that Raila is the man to beat in 2012? Time will tell.
Hate him, love him, Agwambo is here to stay and at a very defining moment in our history. A new beginning — to be precise – the Katiba Mpya Era; The Era of Dr Willy Mutunga and Nancy Baraza.
By George William Otanga
Airline Revenue Business Analyst and Aviation expert
Nairobi
About the Author
George Otanga: this is quite an interesting piece written like a true Kenyan on the ground observing Agwambo keenly. As noted by the late Wamalwa Kijana, you either have a phobia or a mania for Raila. Balala has now trooped back to ODM claiming he will support him. He has seen that the KKK Alliance is heading nowhere. Sections of the Kalenjin are warming up to him with a clear stand that they won’t support Ruto’s bid to work under Uhuru.
Agwambo surely is the man to beat, wapende wasipende. Tukutane kwa debe 2012.
Am so happy to read this from a Luhya because some people think Raila has no support from non-Luos. We need more like George to give us the real picture in Kenya; well written and quite honest!
Raila Tosha! Uhuru and Ruto will soon be prisoners in The Hague. Kalonzo Musyoka the Betrayer cannot be president because he has nothing to offer after being in Parliament for over 20 years and only made a deal with Kibaki to become vice president by betraying Raila in 2007. Balala is back to Raila’s side and many Kalenjins have realized that their experience with Kikuyus is still bitter; they cannot allow Kikuyu IDPs back to Rift Valley. Uhuru has therefore no votes among them. Kuttuny and other noise making Kalenjin MPs are now quiet because they have no more insults on Raila, seeing that the KKK tribal alliance with the Kikuyus cannot work. Threee Meru MPs also joined ODM last week saying their future is not in PNU.
Agwambo’s popularity can never be matched by any current politician.
There is this thing with the TRUTH, it does not die. Not even huge crowds of friends and vulnerable mortals could bury it. It keeps lifting its beautiful head. TRUTH is never intimidated by large crowds, eloquent speeches or loneliness. TRUTH is courageous to stand alone. One does not need a lawyer for it, it does not need to defend itself though it is always in constant trial…With a masaai mother and Luo dad i would say may the Truth stand come next election
Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s reconciliation mission with members of his party in the Rift Valley was boosted after Minister for Agriculture Sally Kosgei indicated she was in his camp.
And their public announcement of her comeback was loaded with political symbolism, as it was done in Uasin Gishu County, the political stronghold of Raila’s rival, William Ruto, the MP for Eldoret North.
Raila toured Uasin Gishu County yesterday where he said Kosgei’s “comeback” was the beginning of better things for ODM that has been perceived as a divided party.
Kosgei, an experienced public servant – having served in senior positions in the Kanu regime, including as Head of Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet – is known to weigh her words carefully.
“I don’t want to say much but when you see me here with Raila, you know what it means. I am a leader who does not believe in lying,” said the Aldai MP.
By Peter Atsiaya
Saturday, 18th June 2011
Prime Minister Raila Odinga toured Meru County where he held rallies and inspected development projects in what used to be hte larger Nyambene.
Igembe South MP Mithika Linturi and former Ntonyiri MP Maoka Maore, who accompanied the PM, announced they had shifted their political loyalties to Raila.
The pronouncement is likely to open up wedges in politics in the region, especially in Meru South region, which is dominated by the Party of National Union (PNU).
The 2012 presidential candidate who demonstrates the strongest reform credentials is likely to win the youth votes, a new survey reveals.
Reform credentials impress 36 per cent of Kenyan youth while those without a corruption-riddled background have the support of 27 per cent of the youth. Leaders who are trustworthy will attract 25 per cent of the youth vote.
These factors considered, the youth would rather vote for Prime Minister Raila Odinga (45 per cent), Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta (17 per cent) and Narc-Kenya leader Martha Karua (14 per cent) in that order, according to a survey conducted by Infotrak Harris for Saturday Nation.
Mr Odinga commands the respect of half the youth in Nairobi while he would sway the least youth to vote for him in Central and North Eastern provinces at 20 per cent, shows the poll conducted on 1,680 respondents aged between 17 and 35 years.
Mr Odinga beats Mr Kenyatta and Ms Karua combined in urban support by the youth. He scores 46 per cent against Mr Kenyatta’s 19 per cent. The gap is reduced in the rural areas with Mr Odinga posting 38 per cent against Mr Kenyatta’s 15 per cent.
At the moment, two in every three youth are either unhappy or very unhappy with the Grand Coalition Government, with a meagre 9 per cent saying they were either happy or very happy with it.
Half of those interviewed say the reason the government frustrates them is its failure to address unemployment among the youth. Endless cases of corruption caused by poor governance is the second reason the youth are unhappy, while slow implementation of the new Constitution comes third.
By BILLY MUIRURI
“We have broadened our base beyond our traditional strongholds. Opinion polls show that ODM now has presence in regions such as Central and Eastern provinces,” the PM told the Sunday Nation in an earlier interview.
Dr Kosgei’s “return” has been cited by Mr Odinga’s supporters as proof that their captain has not lost all support among the Kalenjin as it is widely thought.
Moi University lecturer and political analyst Kipchumba Murkommen points out three factors that might have influenced what he perceives to be Mr Odinga’s change of fortunes.
First, he says the PM’s critics have not had anything lately about which to attack him. “Raila’s support among the Kalenjin was arguably at its lowest when the Ocampo Six were going to The Hague. But, after that, there has been nothing else,” he said.
Mr Odinga has been blamed for the inclusion of Mr Ruto, Tinderet MP Henry Kosgey and radio presenter Joshua Sang on the list of six suspects wanted by the International Criminal Court over allegations of crimes against humanity.
But, while in Nandi, Mr Odinga absolved himself from blame. “I was equally shocked at the composition of the list whose compilation I did not have a hand in,” he said.
Second, doubts emerged among the Kalenjin about the political union between Mr Ruto and Mr Kenyatta, which is thought to pose the greatest challenge to Mr Odinga’s presidential ambitions.
This followed displeasure by Mr Ruto’s supporters that he was playing second fiddle to Mr Kenyatta in the arrangement. This prompted Mr Ruto to announce he would run for president.
By KIPCHUMBA SOME and EMEKA-MAYAKA GEKARA
Saturday, June 18 2011
Agwambo is the man to beat in Western Province and Nandi District. But Nandis are willing to consider Ruto if he abandons Uhuru. Uhuru is a NON -STARTER in Western Kenya. Mudavadi’s “go-it-alone-first” considered a joke, Eugene’s “Presidential candidacy” considered to be an even bigger joke.
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Raila Pekee! Raila Kityo! Agwambo Njamba! Agwambo Kende! Meet you all at the Ballot Box in 2012. Agwambo is a real ENIGMA!
Raila has come to the rescue of former Eldoret North MP Ms Chelagat Mutai that lives in squalor and poor health after injuring her spine due to a road accident in 2006. Agwambo is humane and truly a man of the people. Ms Mutai was quite vocal in Parliament in the 1980s and challenged Moi’s dictatorial rule that fronted corruption and land grabbing. Agwambo is a kind-hearted man and was asked for help by Chelagat, so his enemies should not read politics in this.
Ruto, her fellow Kalenjin who succeeded her many years later, and now leads the same constituency that she hails from, never came to help her, nor did she think of him, but Agwambo. She knew he fought for Kenya’s second liberation and had suffered under Moi’s dictatorship, so would understand.
This is what Ms Mutai said of Kenya’s political leaders: “I think our country has three forms of government – one that meets in secret, plots in secret and implements things in secret, another government where leaders meet to flatter each other and the government where people work.”
Raila rescues forgotten Chelagat Mutai
By John Oywa
Former firebrand politician Philemena Chelagat Mutai flashed a smile of hope as nurses wheeled her into a ward at the National Spinal Injury Hospital, a pale shadow of a vibrant figure that kept the then Kanu regime on it toes for close to a decade.
Seated on a neatly spread bed and sandwiched between Prime Minister Raila Odinga, ministers James Orengo and Fred Gumo, Mutai, now 62, struggled to maintain her dignity as the first woman MP from the Kalenjin community even as she reflected on a militant political past that saw her jailed and shoved out of the public limelight.
She has been living in a friend’s one-roomed house near Kasarani, in Nairobi from where she quietly but boldly battled for survival ever since she fell from grace in 1981.
The former Eldoret North MP suffered a spinal injury in a 2006 road accident and has been confined to a wheel chair ever since. Lack of resources has made it impossible to get quality treatment.
At the hospital, Mutai found medical staff waiting with her bed already made. Her face lighted up when Raila and his team arrived.
“I am very happy you listened to my plight and came to my assistance,” she told the premier who appeared emotionally moved by her medical condition.
“I have been trying hard to survive — trying my hand in farming and in business. I have had problems but I kept to myself because making noise would only have multiplied them,” said the former legislator.
She added: “When things got too much, I decided to reach out to the Prime Minister and I am so happy he acted quickly to help save my life.”
Ms Mutai, a political scientist, became the youngest MP ever in 1974 after her uncle, the late William Saina, was jailed for incitement. At only 24, she trounced 12 other candidates to become the country’s youngest legislator and the first woman MP from the Kalenjin community.
But her sharp tongue landed her in trouble two years later after she was arrested and jailed for six months after she complained of land grabbing and incited her constituents to invade a plantation at Ziwa.
She completed her term and returned to Parliament, but her troubles did not end there. Hunted by the Kanu Government because of her militancy, she was accused of falsifying mileage claims alongside other MPs and was due to be arrested when she fled to Tanzania in 1983 to escape a second stint in jail.
On Tuesday, Raila and Orengo hailed Mutai as an icon of the struggle for second liberation.
http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000037598&cid=4&ttl=Raila%20rescues%20forgotten%20Chelagat%20Mutai
By NATION REPORTER, Posted Friday, July 15 2011 at 11:48
Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) presidential candidate Raila Odinga leads in the latest opinion polls for the race to State House.
Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenya is second according to the opinion polls released by Strategic Research and Public Relations.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga leads by 42.6 per cent, Uhuru Kenyatta with 21.4 per cent, than Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, William Ruto, and Martha Karua with less than 10 per cent each.
Of the 3070 respondents, 38.6 per cent pointed out that the cost of living is high, while 24.6 per cent said corruption is yet to be fully tackled by the government.
Failure to fight insecurity in the country has bothered 9.2 per cent of the respondents as 8.4 per cent point out on inability to fight negative ethnicity.
8.4 percent of the respondents want the new constitution be implemented on schedule while 7.8 per cent want the government to create jobs for the youths.
Ida feted for empowering women in Africa
Posted by LODRICK MAYABI on April 2, 2012
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 2 – Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s wife Ida was on Saturday feted with the distinguished African Amazon award by The Centre for Economic and Leadership Development.
Ida Odinga was honoured following her relentless quest to empower women in the continent during the gala night of the International Conference on African Women development held in Dubai.
Previous recipients of the annual continental prize were Liberian President and Nobel Laureate Ellen Sirleaf and Gambian Vice president Isatou Njie-Saidy who were feted in 2010 and 2011 respectively.
The PM’s wife has actively advocated the rights and welfare of the African woman and has been instrumental in promoting the education of the girl child.
The four-day conference which attracted distinguished personalities from the continent gave the African women leaders a platform to take stock of their progression.
The theme of the conference centered on “women as catalysts for Africa’s economic development in the emerging decade” reviewed the challenges and opportunities women face in the continent.
The award comes barely three months after Ida received an honorary doctorate degree in Humanities from Igbinedion University of Nigeria for her role in African democratization process.
As the former chairperson of the league of Kenya women voters, Ida has devoted her efforts to provoke women to aspire for leadership especially under the current constitutional dispensation which reserves a special ratio for gender.
She has also been vocal in the “White Ribbon Alliance” campaign which advocates for safe motherhood programmes to prevent maternal deaths and promotion of awareness on breast cancer.
She is also the Patron of the Paraplegic organisation of Kenya; Kenya Women Medical Association and a champion of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition.
Other charitable ventures in which she is involved include orphanage centres in the sprawling Kibera slums where she sponsors the education of less fortunate members of the society.