Watching Raila Odinga on Nation television last night defending Bishop Gilbert Deya was perhaps the biggest blunder the otherwise erstwhile politician has made of late and the Langata MP could have been better off steering away from the issue by simply saying Deya was a friend from his home in Bondo and had nothing to do with the abortive visit by ODM leaders to London.
Odinga was seen and heard before Kenyans saying that Bishop Deya was innocent and there were even no complainants in the child abduction allegations yet the Kenya government is seeking extradition from London so he could face charges here in Nairobi. His wife has already been charged in court over related allegations over what was termed as the miracle baby scandal.
Guilty or not Guilty, Deya is perhaps the most controversial preacher in Kenya's history ever since scores of children were found in his Nairobi home only for them to be traced from different parts of the country where they had been allegedly abducted from. On the other hand, Deya was in London where he claimed he prayed for childless couples to get children. Police say they have a child trafficking case against him.
Raila is aware of all these facts as they were reported in the local newspapers when the scandal broke and one wonders why a man of Raila's stature will defend someone with such a reputation yet he is aspiring to be the president of this country.
One thing is however clear, Deya comes from Raila's home place but what is worth noting is that Deya is a very rich man which makes all the difference and probably answers the question why Raila will involve himself with such a guy.
There was talk that the Deya ministries had provided top of the range luxury cars for the ODM luminaries to travel in while in London and he had also donated an unknown number of cars towards Raila's presidential campaign on the assumption that he was going to be the party's presidential candidate.
This is probably what made the ODM luminaries boycott the bonding meeting other than the obvious but now forgotten fact that quite a number of ODM functionaries are unable to obtain clearance to set foot in London due to their records concerning corruption.
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Chris, we also watched the program on tv and you tend misreport what actually took place.Raila specifically said he wasnt holding brief for Bishop Deya. He stressed the need to respect the rule of law and to let Bishop Deya be proven guilty or innocent by a court of law. He never defended Bishop Deya nor his wife, but he strongly defended the need to respect the rule of law.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Raila, it is Amos Deya who is a son to the Bishop, who is the personality hat has connections with ODM London Branch. Although swahili say "mtoto wa nyoka ni nyoka", I feel Deya Junior as an adult has every right to associate with a political party of his choice.
In short, I dont believe this was a blunder by Raila at all. In any case, he was responding to a specific question from the program host. Phil, Kangemi
The same Raila says he has no faith with the court system under the current government because it dances to the whimp of the executive yet he is here telling us to wait until thr dude is declared guilty. He also told the London gathering that they should not condemn William Ruto because the last time he checked the case was still in court. Granted there is nothing we can do and it is unfair to say that they are guilty but as a presidential candidate this double speak is worrying. One way of avoiding doublespeak is to speak less and listen more which seems impossible for Raila. He told us that whenever there is a scandal in a ministry the buck should stop with the minister only for him to say the opposite when the goldenberg report was released and Musalia was implicated. We are reading your lips my fren and our conviction tghat u are not any different from the snakes grows bigger with each passing day.
ReplyDeleteChris u like saying that "some" people didnt go to London coz of visa hitch. It was only Willie who couldnt get a visa and possibly Musalia (Who had said he was not going from the very word GO). Ojiambo,Uhuru and Kalonzo didnt go coz the agenda was suspect.
I personally dont think there is anything wrong with Deya financing Raila's bid or anybody else's. I mean if u r a presidential canduidate, u are not going to tell people that u dont want their money coz it is ill gotten. everybody should carry their own cross and on this one i support Raila that people should go for Deya's neck instead of questioning his relationship with Raila.
The allegation that people didnt go to London coz of Deya's role in the whole thing is neither here nor there. This was just blown out of proportion by the press. I support Vikii that Raila's friendship with Deya should not get us questioning the credibility of odm. We should question that of Deya since it is certain that the odm crew are not child traffickers and they are looking for a job as president and not a business as child traffickers. This in my opinion is a non issue which julie should not have raised in the first place.
ReplyDeleteWe are not better in trivailizing weighty issues than Moi would appoint his VP on a roadside baraza. Here we are talking about what makes a leader but end up making a mounatin out of a side issue which a nosy journalist, rightly so, wanted to pull off her guest.
ReplyDeleteAnytime one starts a comment with the refrain I hold no brief, why would we think otherwise unless we are psychos capable of seeing into people's minds?
This blog used to be very objective and informative but of late it has degenerated into another forum for cheap and tribal talk that will take the wind off its sail faster than ODM-K splitting. Chris you need to re-evaluate what you originally designed your blog to serve and let us know if you have transformed it into another of those cheap street talk for bashing people with the barest of intellect (sorry guys no offence intended). Lets seive emotions and stereotypes out of this and stick to issues.