Even
among some of Raila Odinga’s passionate supporters in the Rift Valley, there is
apprehension on whether the historic presidential candidate will win back some
of the region’s support ahead of 2017 elections.
While
all is not lost for the opposition leader, it is evident that there have been
better days for him in the region that overwhelmingly supported him in 2007.
For
Odinga to have credible chances at beating Kenyatta in 2017, he needs at least
a million Kalenjin votes – or more. Such a prospect is a difficult to
comprehend for now.
Even
with the most elaborate strategy to win back the region – which he obviously
does not have – Odinga’s prospects in wining some Kalenjin support in the Rift
Valley rest on the outcome of the ICC case against Deputy President William
Ruto, the unity and performance of the Jubilee government and the fate of the
county governments.
I
met Odinga March 2007 as he laid down the foundation for one of the most
elaborate and energetic campaigns yet, to later become a front runner by late
2007.
It
was in Kapkatet in Kericho during his first major campaign rally as he sought
ODM nomination to stand in the election as president. He came across to many as
genuinely concerned about the welfare of the region as well as getting them back
into the government.
There
is no underestimating the goodwill he enjoyed. Humanity flowing to listen to
him for months! They even called him Arap Mibei (someone associated with
water), without ceremony or tradition.
Covering
many of his campaign rallies in the region, I remember a candidate who looked
biblical and sounded prophetic. A Jeremiah! A modern day Moses who had landed
to deliver the Kalenjin from misery and mistreatment under President Mwai
Kibaki, whom Odinga backed in 2002.
Because
he was supported by Ruto, the current deputy president, it was never easy to
gauge how much was courtesy of his co-Pentagon member and what was due to his direct
appeal.
He
professed secularism and religious values when it mattered. He oscillated
between far left and the centre when there was need. It somehow felt that
Odinga become too comfortable with the support and even might have felt the
Kalenjins were his to keep.
He
had unflappable calm and endless energy, even amid huge storms. His mythical
reputation gave loose bowels to the PNU. And then of course the tragedy of 2007
happened.
But
I could not imagine seeing such a politician go ahead to lose the 2013
election. But he did. And his supporters have an explanation.
“There
was so much propaganda ranging from Mau
Forest evictions to ICC
that was thrown at Raila ahead of the 2013 election,” Kipkorir Menjo, a former
councillor and a key supporter of Odinga in North Rift explained to me.
“But
now, people are starting to understand it was all about propaganda. It is
becoming clear Raila had nothing with ICC… Such things, together with bad
economic performance of the Jubilee are starting to bring the reality home,”
Menjo said.
But
even such optimism rests of elements beyond the control of Odinga.
In
putting together this piece, some senior Rift Valley politicians told me Odinga
was no longer electable anymore. Perhaps they are right.
Look.
When the 2008 violence died down and a power-sharing deal gave Odinga the
position of a prime minister, I saw a consummate politician who was enamoured
by illusions of power and biometric access to his Harambee Annex office.
His
humility was gone, replaced with a hopeless charisma. A man on a mission to
turn every opportunity into misfortune, I thought.
His
friends knew that Kibaki side was scheming his failure. Whether they had access
to tell him is another issue.
As
prime minister, while he fought with Kibaki over nusu mkate (half loaf) and all the rubbish about torn carpet and a
moving toilet, Odinga missed an opportunity to network and carry forward the
goodwill he had amassed in Rift Valley.
Mau Forest eviction
He
started haemorrhaging support and the goodwill as soon as he was named prime
minister after losing the election, which many in the Rift Valley concur, was
stolen.
When
he presided over the evictions of Mau
Forest , he was doing the
right thing.
There is no underestimating the importance of Mau, the country's
biggest closed-canopy forest and a vital water catchment region. With more than
20 per cent destroyed, continued destruction would cost the country’s tourism,
tea and energy sectors and threaten millions beyond Kenya .
But I always suspected that Odinga was waving his green credentials
for the international community that does not vote. Those who vote had been
pushed to makeshift camps. Their children had missed out on a full school
calendar. They were being rained on, exposed to the elements, captured on TV.
This is where the rain also started beating Odinga. You often
hear the argument that there were also those in Kibaki’s side of the coalition
government who were setting him up for a failure.
To date, Odinga people tell me the eviction had been a
government project and it was the right thing to do. No one doubts that. A
consultative process, with concessions, would have been a preferred route, if
he was keen on retaining ties with a constituency that sent squatters into Mau.
He forgot the difficult choices he faced. Play by the Kenyan
shenanigans and retain Kalenjin support or go for it, and save humanity.
The problem is he lost both; Kalenjin support and Mau.
Ronald Ngeny, a key support of Odinga in South Rift said Jubilee
is still following the same script in attempts to reclaim Mau.
“Jubilee
recently evicted people from Mau
Forest . If you are saying
that Raila lost support because of it, then that would be untrue. Some people
played propaganda with the issue at the time,” he told me.
The government has said no more violent evictions would be
carried out in Mau.
Post-election violence
and ICC
As if that was not enough, William Ruto and ex-broadcaster
Joshua Sang – two Kalenjins - alongside four other Kenyans were named by the
ICC prosecutor in December 2010 as suspected masterminds of the 2007/8 post-
election violence.
The narrative advanced by the prosecutor, who also said he
wanted to make Kenya
example in dealing with impunity, was that Odinga’s party planned the violence.
The thinking in Rift Valley remains that ahead of the election, it
was clear Odinga was wining the poll and so there was no need for any thoughts on
violence.
Any
suggestion that the violence was planned goes against the spirit of
overwhelming support the Kalenjin gave Odinga in 2007.
Even
though he rejected any claims that his party planned the violence, many felt
that Odinga did not speak up loud enough in support of Ruto. And when he spoke,
his message was cacophonic. And when it was clear, it seemed to support the ICC
narrative that the violence was planned.
“We
cannot stand up as a civilized country and say that nobody killed the 1,300
people. These murders must have been systematic and organised,” Daily Nation
quoted Odinga saying on 28 March 2011 during a visit to Dubai .
In
other comments carried by the media, Odinga repeated that someone had to take
responsibility for the deaths for the violence. To his former supporters in the
Rift Valley, he and Kibaki were the only people who should have been held responsible.
“William
Ruto or Sang were not on the ballot paper running for president. Raila was
ungrateful and seemed OK as his former supporters were being unfairly tried at
the ICC,” a senator from Rift Valley said to me.
The
possible dismissal of Ruto and Sang case in August or so before they are put to
their defence will provide a relief for Odinga. He may even want to say that
not a single kinsman was a witness against the two in court. His supporters
have in the past said the real Ruto enemies
are those he is with in government – the people who got the case before the
ICC and provided witnesses.
“One
day, Ruto will know that Odinga had nothing to do with the case before Hague.
Since Uhuru case was dropped, Ruto has been left alone. Uhuru never speaks
about it at all, No lobbying anyone anymore. He is being mistreated,” Ng’eny
told me.
This
thinking reinforces the narrative among some who believe that Deputy President
William Ruto will not become president through Jubilee, read, Kikuyu support –
or president at all. This is a dangerous hypothesis.
Odinga’s
involvement – or lack of – in the ICC case is already part of Kalenjin history.
It will take more than a speeches to prove he was not part of.
Fate of county governments
Recent meeting between Odinga and Bomet governor, Isaac Rutto to
discuss strengthening devolution is more to the benefit of the latter.
CORD’s Okoa Kenya
initiative has several convergences with governors’ Pesa Mashinani campaign. As
he leaves the position of the chairman of council of governor’s, some believe
that Rutto had been keen to hand over the Pesa Mashinani campaign to CORD.
Odinga must be aware that Ruto, a sworn opponent of the deputy
president, is not in his presidential equation.
A serious audit of the county government that presents an optimistic
scorecard of the devolved units will provide Odinga with good tidings.
He can claim credit for championing the strengthening of the county
governments.
However, an audit that suggests corruption has marred
performance of the devolved units will cast doubts of the motivation for
sending more money to them.
While selling JAP in the Rift Valley will require energy, re-introducing
CORD in the same region will be like trying to artificially inseminate a
porcupine. It will be repulsive and fraught with danger.
The flight of former ODM executive director Magerer Langat and former
minister and ODM official Franklin Bett to Ruto side has left the party with no
high profile figure from the Kalenjin.
Should Ruto and Rutto reconcile later, then Odinga’s hopes would
have been dashed.
He cannot go to former president Moi, a key supporter of Uhuru
Kenyatta.
That leaves the former prime minister with a bad wind in the Rift
Valley.