I am pleased to welcome you to this momentous occasion, the formal launch of the Raila Odinga Presidential Campaign Website. As you will know, I intend to offer myself as a Presidential Candidate on the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) ticket. While I purpose to officially launch the Presidential campaign at a later date, I find it appropriate to expand the opportunity for dialogue with my fellow citizens, ahead of both the Presidential campaign launch and the elections. The launch of this website is accordingly a remarkable contribution to expanded dialogue.
It is critical that we reason together, to define the country that we want and the leadership that will take us to the land of our dreams. My own candidature is on the platform of transformational change. My ticket seeks to harness and secure the democratic and governance gains that Kenyans have made over the past two decades. This website will in the coming days serve as an invaluable platform in the sharing of my thoughts, dreams and aspirations for our nation.
Often, the brevity of memory does not allow us to remember where we have come from. We Kenyans have travelled a long and difficult road to where we are. Patriots have over the past five decades made heavy sacrifice for our country. Some fell by the wayside. They were felled so that the present and future generations may enjoy life in a free, fair and just country. It is too painful to enumerate the sacrifices of reform. Now that we have eventually made the major step of Constitutional reform, it is clearly time to focus on the kind of society we want to give future generations. We want to deliver the promise of the rights and freedoms that the Constitution promises our children.
However, this promise is increasingly coming under assault by those who do not wish to see the nation move forward. In recent times, they have openly come together. Their sole objective is to reverse our national gains. This is their only election agenda. This agenda is often expressed in the words, “We must work together to defeat Raila.” Put differently, they are saying, “We must work together to defeat the Constitutional promise of a free and better country. We must work together to defeat the people.” They want to defeat me because I represent hope. They want to kill our hope, the Kenyan Dream.
My only crime is that I want to give Kenyans a better country. I want to secure Kenya as a land of justice, peace and liberty. I am guilty of trying to make Kenya a united and glorious nation, where people think about their country ahead of their tribes. I am guilty of pushing for creation of wealth, employment opportunities for our youth and a safe, secure and equitable nation. For this, those who fought us before must team up, to seek to defeat my candidature and the dream of the Kenyan people – our people.
But our dream must not die. It should not die, it cannot die. It will not die. This election is our best chance to make a clean break with the past. If we do not, then we must go back to the past. The election will therefore be a two-horse race. The horse of the future will be pitted against the horse of yesterday. The horse of reform will run against the horse of reversal and negation; the race of hope against that of despair.
My candidature is riding the horse of reform, hope and the bright future we yearn for, for our children. To get there, I need the support of every Kenyan patriot, in prayer, cash and kind. I need every patriot. I am counting on you. Your individual support and contribution matters. That is why we have erected this platform of dialogue. I appeal to my fellow citizens to make frequent journeys to this platform and let us reason together.
As we dialogue together, I want to make a passionate plea to my fellow citizens. My dear brothers and sisters, forget the tribe. It is the blindfold they use to cover your eyes. Forget the handouts, they are the poison chalice that corrupt put in your hands. Forget the hate propaganda against me and other patriots. It is the venom they use to poison your own mind against what is good for you.
Let us therefore dialogue on this interactive platform, which will not only give you my thoughts and dreams, but it will also give me the opportunity to know your own thoughts and dreams. Kenyans will find first hand information and news here. They will find deep insight into my thoughts here and they will tell me what they like and do not like. I appeal for mutual respect and tolerance as we dialogue on the platform and in the attendant social media. Let us agree and disagree in dignified fashion that brings honour to our nation. Those who wish to support our campaign effort will also be able to do so through avenues that are provided on this website.
Thank you for joining us today, both here and wherever you may be following us on the word wide web. God bless you, God bless Kenya.
RAILA A. ODINGA
July 4th 2012
About the Author
The Raila factor
By STANDARD TEAM
The gas pedal of Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s political vehicle is pressed to the floorboard but the road to State House is bumpy, unpredictable and thorny.
As he makes what many perceive to be his last stab for Presidency, albeit with four of his fiercest critics plotting how to stop him, Raila by his words and actionis sending out one message: He will fight to the bitter end and is leaving nothing to chance.
Barring any changes to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission March 4, 2013 date for the national exercise, it is just eight months to election, and therefore the race is getting hotter and the contenders more determined to make the best of the time left.
Raila, who still leads in opinion polls no doubt faces the stiffest opposition, especially given the four other key contenders have serious grudges against him, this week launched his campaign website.
He also hosted last night a Sh100, 000 a plate dinner-cum-fundraiser. And, this weekend he has a long campaign programme in the Rift Valley, where he is taking the battle to the doorsteps of Eldoret North MP William Ruto.
Apart from Ruto, the other three contenders who have misgivings about their past dealings with Raila, and whose actions in the coming months may determine if it is one of them who would be at State House or they would all lose to Raila are Deputy Prime Ministers Uhuru Kenyatta and Musalia Mudavadi, and Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka.
For the time being, the four are campaigning separately for themselves and their own parties, but even in this set-up, Ruto, Uhuru and sometimes Kalonzo maintain they are forging an alliance within which they hope to produce a joint or compromise presidential candidate.
Very likely this is the G7 Alliance, which for the last few months Kalonzo has stayed away from, likely because of the suspicion Ruto and Uhuru, along with some of their allies, hold that he is an opportunist waiting to reap from the possible derailment from running by International Criminal Court.
But this may no longer be an issue, not only because Ruto and Kalonzo shared a platform recently, but also because ICC prosecution did not resist the bid to have the cases tried in after March elections. The Judges are yet to rule on the matter.
Force a run-off
But two interesting developments among the politicians perceived to be keen on all running to force a run-off against Raila, after which they would back the one closest to the PM whether as number one or two, have drawn national attention.
First, it is Uhuru’s search for an alliance with Mudavadi, capped by the elders he sent to him in May in Kakamega, and growing pressure in his Central backyard to work with Mudavadi, who was his running mate in 2002. This has not gone down well with Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa, who is now building a new political home.
Also believed to have been stunned by this move, was Ruto, whose supporters were baffled by the mild reception and low attention he was accorded during Uhuru’s launch of The National Alliance in May.
It was shortly after this that Ruto, too, had a private meeting with Mudavadi, against the backdrop of unverified claims he had also been in secret talks with Raila, brokered by a former top State House official during the Kanu regime.
Secondly, because it now looks more likely ICC would not stop Ruto and Uhuru from running, the duo’s game plan said to have been anchored onto picking of a ‘compromise’ candidate, seems to have lost premium. This is probably why the two politicians are busy building their different parties – TNA and United Republican Party.
But because of the bitter circumstances in which the four parted with Raila, it is expected that they would campaign as much for themselves as they would against Raila, who remains their most formidable opponent.
This is what underpins the ‘Raila Factor’ in the coming elections, and at the same time could determine if the four leaders would finally team up under one party to fight the PM.
Interestingly, all the four politicians were first with Raila when his National Development Party joined the Jogoo party in 2002.
When former President Moi handpicked Uhuru to be the ruling party presidential candidate, Raila led the walkout. The exit had such big names as the then immediate former VP, George Saitoti, Kalonzo, Joseph Kamotho, and for a short time, Mudavadi himself.
Betrayal
They all joined Raila’s Liberal Democratic Party, which later merged with President Kibaki’s National Alliance of Kenya, to form the National Rainbow Coalition. The Coalition whitewashed Kanu in the 2002 December elections.
Left behind in Kanu, alongside Uhuru and Mudavadi, was Ruto, who was Kanu director of elections. The Eldoret North MP, however, teamed up with Raila in 2007, but started edging away shortly after the power-sharing deal was signed.
Following differences with President Kibaki from 2003 over his betrayal of a MoU signed with the Raila side, culminating in the showdown in 2005 referendum, Raila and Kalonzo were kicked out of the Cabinet, and were soon in one political camp with Uhuru. Mudavadi was not on the political radar then, apparently still smattering by his humiliating defeat following his belated return to Kanu.
However, though Uhuru and Kalonzo later abandoned Raila, Kenyatta to back Kibaki, and Kalonzo to run on his own party from which the Raila group had been forced to abandon, history brought all of them, including Mudavadi who in 2007 returned to Raila’s fold, under the quarrelsome Grand Coalition Government.
It is from this forced ‘marriage’, that the five politicians, alongside retiring President Kibaki, may determine the pace and direction of the General Election.
They will be walking out to either face one among them, or break into pairs to fight for the ultimate prize – State House.
Day Raila fled disguised as Priest
There was a day Raila Odinga arrived in Kisumu, Ugenya and Bondo but the people who normally give him a rousing welcome could not recognise him.
That was around the time Raila quietly boarded a motorboat at Ndeda Beach in Bondo at 4pm and sailed with other passengers at night to Uganda without being noticed.
Travelling under different names, sometimes dressed as a priest and other times as a Sheikh, Raila staged a dramatic escape from Kenya by boat at night, through Lake Victoria to Uganda then to Norway, to avoid arrest just before a 1991 Forum for Restoration of Democracy rally at Kamukunji, Nairobi.
That day, Raila was introduced to Kisumu and Ugenya as Father Augustine from Machakos, complete with a priest’s robe.
He arrived in Uganda under the name of Joseph Ojiwa Wadeya. By the time he was leaving Uganda for Norway, his name had changed to Haji Omar, going to Mecca on pilgrimage, complete with a kanzu and a fez.
The Lang’ata MP would probably be dead today had he not made this dramatic exit.
Raila remembers in his biography that as the Ford Young Turks and the six elderly men were mobilising for the Kamukunji rally, a US Embassy official, Alan Eastham, told him they had intelligence that the Government was panicking and blaming Raila for all the tension that had gripped the country then.
According to the US Embassy, the Government believed Raila was the man behind the movement despite the fact that Raila held no leadership position in Ford.
The Embassy told Raila that he was likely to be arrested two days before the October 5, 1991 rally. It was not going to be an ordinary arrest.
‘The Moi Government had concluded that Raila no longer feared detention and Eastham warned that they could do him physical harm or assassinate him. The advice was that Raila should take care,’ the biography, Raila Odinga: An Enigma in Kenyan Politics, says.
Police raided Raila’s offices in Agip House, but missed him, as he had gone to lawyer James Orengo’s office within the building.
A team of lawyers, including Martha Karua, Japheth Shamalla, Martha Koome and media houses were soon at hand to witness the siege. The raid was foiled. But the struggle was not over.
It was after this that Raila, Orengo and Anyang’ Nyong’o decided that it was too risky to play games with ‘a desperate enemy’.
From this time on, Raila’s life changed. A decision was taken that Raila should go underground.
The solidarity of the Young Turks paid off for him. At that time, Raila, Mukhisa Kituyi, Paul Muite, Oki Ooko Ombaka, Karua, Kiraitu Murungi, Gibson Kamau Kuria, among others, were allies against dictatorship.
After a night at Orengo’s place, Nyong’o, Raila and Orengo decided that even that place was not safe enough.
Another ‘trustworthy friend’ took over when Raila moved to the home of Dr Kituyi, a long time activist who had been expelled with Otieno Kajwang’ from the University of Nairobi for their role in student politics.
Nyong’o drove Raila to Kituyi’s place where the Lang’ata MP stayed for a week while police hunted for him.
On the first night at Kituyi’s place, police raided Raila’s home in Kileleshwa.
Ida, now used to battles with the police, refused to open, insisting the man was not at home.
She pretended to be looking for the keys, while she was in fact calling the press.
She asked the watchman to count the police loudly. When he reached 17 they beat him hard.
Then they left with a message to Ida to tell Raila, ‘if he was man enough, he should come to the police station and they would know who they were.’
It was time to get Raila out of Kituyi’s house, to the US Embassy. The task fell on Kituyi’s wife, Ling, who had to take him through the many roadblocks without police noticing.
She changed Raila’s beards and hair, fixed him with glasses and took him to the Embassy with Dr Kituyi driving and Nyong’o following.
The Embassy gave audience to Raila, but was not willing to host him. Earlier, it had given exile to Kamau Kuria, to Moi’s chagrin.
That day, Raila went to Nyong’o’s house, fearing that police would follow him to Kituyi’s house.
Muite showed up. They decided Raila needed to be moved to a friend who was less politically active. They moved him to Jalang’o Anyango’s residence in Loresho where he stayed for another week.
From here, Raila issued a statement that his life was in danger. Moi, on the other hand gave an interview where he said Kenya was a one-party State by law and those going against that were guilty. The die was cast.
The Catholic Church took over Raila’s issue, with Archbishop Zacheaus Okoth plotting how to get Raila out of Nairobi.
Raila moved to his sister-in-law’s house, met his children and promised them he would never go into detention again.
A white American nun and a Kenyan priest Father Mak’ Opiyo, dressed in their religious dresses, got Raila out of Nairobi.
They also dressed Raila as a priest, gave him glasses and with a clean-shaven head, Raila became a different person.
Sitting on the back seat, Raila read newspapers as they passed police roadblocks, where they were easily waved on.
That day, even Kisumu could not recognise Raila. When the three reached the Catholic Station in Kisumu, the two priests booked a disguised Raila as Father Augustine from Machakos.
He was later transferred to Rang’ala Mission in Ugenya where, again, he was booked in as Father Augustine. His father sent a car to collect him at midnight.
It was time for Raila to leave the country by boat. At 4pm, Raila went to Olago beach in Bondo and boarded a diesel-powered boat.
The lake was rough that evening, and the driver had to collect other passengers at Ndeda island. They left Ndeda at 8pm and headed for Uganda.
‘The boat moved slowly using only the moon and the stars for navigation on an initially calm night,’ the biography says.
After two hours, the driver, Hezron Orori, who was also carrying one of his wives who was sick, announced that they were in Uganda.
That provided some relief for Raila, before a heavy storm hit the lake. It was cold, and Orori’s sick wife began to shiver.
‘Raila lent her his jacket and became cold himself,’ the writer says.
Raila turned to a bottle of Vodka a friend had given him. It gave him some warmth.
Raila spent the night in Sigulu, one of the formerly Kenyan islands that had been annexed by Idi Amin.
Here, with the help of sympathetic Kenyans, Ugandans and Tanzanians, Raila acquired Ugandan papers. But his name changed.
He became Joseph Ojiwa Wadeya.
In Kampala, Raila landed in the hands of a friend who had worked for his company, the East African Spectre, who reported his arrival to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
Uganda reported to Kenyan authorities that Raila was there. There was fear that Kenyan intelligence forces in Kampala could abduct Raila and return him home.
UNHCR asked Raila to remain underground saying Kenya had sent security forces to search for him. But Uganda declined to help the Kenyan forces.
Germany, US and Britain, all keen not to ruffle relations with Moi, were reluctant to give asylum to Raila.
Only Norway, which had cut relations with Kenya, accepted Raila.
To leave Uganda for Norway, Raila had to be disguised again.
Ahmed Sayyid Farah, a Somali national who was the UNHCR country representative in Uganda, decided they were not going to take chances.
Farah got Raila a kanzu with a fez and a jacket similar to those of Uganda Muslims to wear. His name changed to Haji Omar, going to Mecca on pilgrimage.
A friend who had boarded Sabena Airlines in Nairobi could not recognise Raila when he boarded in Kampala. His sisters who waited for him at the airport in Oslo could not recognise him either.
Back home, Raila’s wife Ida was still fighting.
She issued a press statement detailing why Raila had to, and stubbornly insisted that if anything happened to her husband, she would hold the police responsible.
She said thugs had attacked Raila’s car at their gate and a day later, an unidentified persons left a bucketful of faeces on their backyard.
Police were calling their house every day and leaving death threats, she said.
‘The latest telephone message that police will shoot him if they caught up with him is the most terrifying. The police have created a lot of fear in our children with these threats. The children freeze every time the phone rings or whenever there is a knock on the door,’ Ida protested.
‘Last week, our daughter broke down in class. I am afraid our children can’t take it anymore. I appeal to the police to stop it for the sake of the children. In this country, all children are supposed to occupy a special place in the hearts of the leaders,’ Ida said.
She insisted that those hunting Raila down were not ordinary policemen.
‘Never before have I heard policemen leaving death messages to people they intend to arrest. May be the tactics have changed. When they say openly that he will see fire or he will see what he has never seen before or that he will never see the sun again, these messages mean the same thing, that they will kill him.’
Ida complained that on October 4 1991, a rowdy and rude group of about 20 uniformed and plain clothed policemen attempted to get to their house by force. Earlier, police had invaded East African Spectre and harassed employees, staged continuous surveillance on the company and at Raila’s home. At the company, they left the message that Raila should report to Central Police Station.
‘It was ominous that when we reported to the Central Police Station, no officer at that station knew about his requirement to report,’ Ida said in the lengthy statement.
‘I want to state very clearly and in no uncertain terms that if something happens to Raila, my family will hold police wholly responsible.’
A day later, Raila’s father, Jaramogi weighed in with a statement asking police to leave his son alone.
‘I appeal to the Commissioner of Police to put a stop to this nonsense. I appeal to the head of the Special Branch, whose professional duty is to advise the Government on political matters as they relate to the security of society to advise against the Gestapo behaviour.’
Apparently, Raila had not left the country or even Nairobi, when this statement was issued.
But it created the impression that he was out.
It was not the first time Ida was showing this act of defiance in what was increasingly becoming a family’s battle with the State.
A few years earlier, Ida had been sacked from her teaching job ‘in public interest.’ That came after she took the State to court in 1988 to demand Raila’s release.
A letter of retirement was delivered to her at Kenya High School on September 12, 1988, telling her to handover all school property and leave within six hours.
Nobody, not even the Kenya National Union of Teachers protested. Only the late Bishop Alexander arap Muge did. When international pressure mounted, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) changed tact.
Mr J Kang’ali wrote to Ida about a week later: ‘The TSC has carefully reviewed its decision on this matter and having taken into account your previous record of service as a teacher, it has been decided that you be reinstated back to the teaching service, on humanitarian grounds.’
TSC declined to take responsibility for the inconveniences to Ida.
In early 1991, an uncowed Ida fired a lengthy letter to Attorney General Mathew Muli, demanding to know why Raila was being persecuted.
‘Why is it that up to now, Raila has not been told specifically what it is that he did to warrant detention without trial? Would you not agree that general reference to his involvement or association with persons is not specific at all? How can he change if his offences are not specified?’ she asked.
In the end, Norway gave Raila an asylum, a job and a passport that allowed him to travel to all countries except Kenya.
He had lived to fight another day and launch an attack on the Nyayo Government from abroad. He returned later to take the Lang’ata seat in 1992.
The standard
its exellent.our hope.
Hei I am ipressed alot by this reality of a new begining of hope in our country. We look foward to your swearing as next president.
Well said,we are praying so that all these may come true.
xxSwitzerland will continue to purchase Iranian oil in defiance of the European Union sanctions on the Islamic Republic that came into effect on July 1.
The Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs stated that Switzerland will not join the oil embargo against Iran, despite pressure from the United States and the EU, IRNA reported on Friday.
Switzerland says that any decision on the import, sale, and transport of Iranian crude oil and petrochemical products and their insurance coverage should be made by the parties to the trade themselves.
In response to a question by the Swiss news agency SDA/ATS, a Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Switzerland wants to maintain good relations with Iran.
In April, the Swiss government also exempted the Central Bank of Iran from the asset freeze that is part of the EU sanctions.
Last month, US Ambassador to Switzerland Donald S. Beyer expressed “disappointment” over Swiss officials’ refusal to comply with the US-engineered EU sanctions on Iran.
On July 1, under US pressure, the EU imposed a new round of sanctions on Iran’s oil and banking sectors, which had been approved by the bloc’s foreign ministers on January 23.
In March, the US administration approved new embargoes on Iranian crude that penalize other countries for buying or selling Iran’s oil. The sanctions took effect on June 28.
The United States has no embassy in Iran and the Swiss Embassy in Tehran has hosted the US Interests Section in the country since late 1979.
MHB/MF/HGLx
http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000061376&story_title=%E2%80%98Operation-Stop-Raila%E2%80%99-intrigues-a-grave-danger-to-country%E2%80%99s-future
‘Operation Stop Raila’ intrigues a grave danger to country’s future
Updated Saturday, July 07 2012 at 20:00 GMT+3
By Billow Khalid
The country’s political eagles are gathering for a single mission – to stop Prime Minister Raila Odinga from becoming Kenya’s fourth President (The Standard On Sunday, June 3).
Tell us, with all due intellectual honesty, why stop him? Would Raila’s presidency be a major risk for 40 million Kenyans and their future? Definitely not. What is even more worrying about the entire operation is its lack of ideology, ethos of naked self-interests and divisive, callous negative ethnicity.
Even anti-Obama US ‘birthers’ have not engaged in petty, stop Obama machinations. Political coalitions without fundamental philosophical, social and economic underpinnings and loyalties are rarely sustainable as evidenced by the meltdown of every other political party, simply described as ‘vehicles’.
Almost as Nelson Mandela, it is not exaggeration to say that Prime Minister Raila Odinga is a poster politician in Kenya and in Africa. There is high probability that Kenya’s fourth president will emerge from one of these big five: Raila, Vice-President Kilonzo Musyoka, DPMs Uhuru Kenyatta and Musalia Mudavadi and Eldoret North MP William Ruto.
These are all outstanding, highly experienced and well-resourced individuals. We are proud to have them at this moment in our nation’s history. Yet for a number of neutral reasons, Raila is first among equals.
First, just like Uhuru, Raila has a brand name. He is the son of a great man and a hero of the country’s struggle for independence and social justice; Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, our first Vice-President.
As far back as on August 14, 1961, in a Mombasa rally, Jaramogi declared: “The (colonial) authorities say if they release Kenyatta, it would be the end of everything. We say holidays of all holidays in the history of Kenya for Kenyatta is out”.
Second and most importantly, we all know how much individually Raila and his family suffered inside and outside prison in the 1980s, together with others, for the sake of freedom, justice and prosperity for all Kenyans. Kibaki Tosha of 2002 was simply the culmination of years of hard work. As they say, the rest is history. Since then ‘a hundred flowers finally bloomed’.
Third, Raila hails from a close-knit community and a populace region that historically felt unjust isolation and exclusion from mainstream politics and development because of primordial politics. Finally, he is an incumbent Prime Minister, the only second the country has had ever since Jomo Kenyatta.
At 68, Raila is within the ideal age bracket for president. A country requires a kind of coach, strategic manager, a sort of Abedi Pele, with outstanding history of “goal scoring”, courage, nationalism, inspiration and integrity. Not, as Mudavadi put it, the individualised sportsmanship brilliance of Lionel Messi (25) and Didier Drogba (34).
It takes a great leader to bring the best out of every body, build a nation to last, help ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things for themselves and make hopelessness a history. Getting the best outcomes through others. I am not sure whether Messi is up there.
Therefore, Justice Minister Eugene Wamalwa is not only correct but has demonstrated bigger patriotism when he recently said in Homa Bay County that he could not allow himself to be part of an alliance where the sole aim is to demonise an individual or community. As the minister rightly observed, such bad politics caused the poverty and the underdevelopment of Nyanza.
Political conflict is a choice, not a necessity. The moment we mobilise people for operation stop this one or that one, we are making choices. In 1976, it was, though it failed, change the Constitution movement for the purpose of stopping the former President Moi from assuming office. Today it is stop Raila intrigues. Next, where and when will it stop? Are we building our nation on the foundations of quick sand?
The writer is a social commentator.
The only way we kenyans can appreciate u is to elect u as the 4th president, what a sacrifice u offered ua country. Otherwise kenya might return to the dark period of prejudice & hate, if we fall 4the hoax theories peddled by forces of impunity g7, kenya will history, that once existed
I promise to spearhead ua campaign in garissa county & greater kenya, encourage youth to vote 4u in a block
http://www.infotrakresearch.com/downloads/CountyTrak%20Release%20July%202012.pdf
https://twitter.com/WaremboNaRaila
http://www.youtube.com/embed/C4dVeMYadtA?autoplay=1&rel=0
http://www.youtube.com/embed/yoHoASWaDBY?autoplay=1&rel=0
Why Raila Could Be The Next President Of Kenya .
Saturday, 29 September 2012 21:52 BY IRSHAD SUMRA
President Mwai Kibaki’s tenure of being the President is coming to an end shortly before the start of 2013 after being in office for two terms. But this leaves Kenyans with a puzzle; who is the front runner or the likely candidate to replace him as the President of the Republic of Kenya? It may be premature or too early to predict the outcome of the presidential election considering the shifting political alliances being witnessed every now and then but all the same here are my top reasons why I strongly believe Prime Minister Raila Odinga could be the next President of Kenya.
However, I am sorry if in any case I am disappointing the other presidential candidates. Without doubt, the youth make up the majority of the country’s voting bloc which means whomever they vote for could be the President-elect come the elections day. Fortunately for him and unfortunately for his competitors, the youth’s votes are Raila’s to lose because he is very popular with them.
This is evidenced in political rallies the prime minister attends. They turn up in large numbers and from the noise they make and the joy on their faces, you can tell he is popular among the youth and that he is their political icon and symbol. With majority of the youth population behind him, I expect Raila to carry the day when the election results are announced by IEBC chairman Ahmed Issack Hassan.
Secondly, Raila is seen as a politician who carries with himself a reform tag. This is a massive boast for his presidential campaign because voters in Kenya are no longer in the dark old days of Kanu. They are enlightened on their rights, what their country needs and which kind of leader can create a better Kenya for them.
The PM is a pioneer of reforms and multiparty democracy in Kenya. He dared President Moi and his Kanu party when no one could open his mouth. This resulted in his frequent detentions for advocating change. Until the year 1992, Kenya was a single party state and it was through pressure by civil society organisations and political leaders led by the likes of Raila, James Orengo, Gitobu Imanyara among others that multi-party politics was introduced.
Raila is also largely credited for the passing of the new constitution. Together with President Kibaki, he rallied his followers across Kenya to come out in large numbers and vote yes for the new constitution during the referendum. That resulted in more than 70 per cent of Kenyans voting for the adoption of the new constitution.
Therefore, carrying the tag of a reformer on his shoulders could increase the chances of Raila Odinga becoming the fourth President of Kenya. Remember that ODM, if you don’t know, is the party on whose ticket the PM will run for the presidency. Opinion polls have shown ODM to be the most popular party in Kenya with support from every part of Kenya.
The orange party has a national outlook as opposed to other political parties in Kenya and it appeals to many people across the country. This is a fact considering that ODM was able to capture Bukura civic ward in Mudavadi’s stronghold while Agostino Neto emerged victorious in the race to succeed the late Internal Security assistant minister Orwa Ojode, as MP of Ndhiwa.
Some critics might not agree with me on this simply because William Ruto has ditched the party to join hands with the G7 Alliance. ODM remains the party to beat in the coming elections. William Ruto may be commanding a large support base from his native Kalenjin community that previously voted for the orange party in the last election but all the same it isn’t a big blow to ODM’s popularity considering that more people are joining it.
Finally, in a country where the rate of corruption is massive, being free from it is a big boost for someone especially if he is seeking a political office like the presidency. Raila is a typical example here. He spent most of his political career agitating for change and democracy while in the opposition and he is on record to have opposed graft scandals in government. Kenyans will never forget major corruption scandals that have rocked the country and crippled the economy.
Politicians were behind scandals like the Anglo-leasing, Golden-berg and Triton. But are Kenyans very forgetful and forgiving to vote for them? Definitely not and for that reason Raila could be a beneficiary as there are no corruption scandals associated with him. Although some critics may drag the PM’s name into the maize and the kazi kwa vijana scandals but every Kenyan knows that it is politics. The PM had no hand in those scandals. These are some of the reasons that might help the PM win the presidency.
Sumra Irshad is an aspiring MP for Embakasi South Constituency and the MD of ROMA Kenya Limited.
am really calling upon you to sponsor me to further my studies…i have been at hom for 3years and i have no chances to enable me to study…here my plea please….i wil be glad. this wil calcify ur presidential bid by showing compasion to the helpless needy