Raila Amollo Odinga: Next President of Kenya?
I am grateful to Joseph-Oloo Obiero of Denver, USA who has provided this blog with excerpts of a personal interview he carried out recently with ODM presidential aspirant Raila Amollo Odinga.
Joseph Obiero said...
I was one of the fortunate few who managed to engage ODM luminary Raila Odinga after his visit to Denver. I have been resident in the US after obtaining my green card in 1996 and starting my career as a Walmart line stores clerk. I landed home over the weekend and the politics that I’ve found here are as hot as I could not have imagined.
After his keynote address at Denver, I and a group of about 6 friends engaged Raila for about 15 minutes in the hallway next to the auditorium. I will replicate our conversation and his answers. They are not verbatim, but give the gist of all what he said as accurately as my mind can remember.
JO: When you talk broadly about radical changes, can you tell us in specifics, without resorting to generalities?
Raila(R.O): The changes I envisage and that I have promised to address within my first 90 days in office are; Dismantling the cabals of tribalism that are choking our country and resulting in runaway corruption and frustration for the people of Kenya.
Since the Moi era, or 'error' as I call it, prime jobs have been stuffed with semi-literate Kalenjin herdsmen. I imagined that Kibaki would correct this but in fact he maintained many of them, and those he sent home were replaced by his kleptocratic tribesmen. As we all know, 90% of all thievery is perpetrated by one tribe in Kenya and these are the people I must put behind bars and later on catch up with the Goldenberg and the Anglo-leasing – we call it anglo-fleecing – crooks.
J.O: But people see the likes of William Ruto in your team?
R.O: The matter of bringing in corrupt leaders was started by Kibaki, and in truth, do not be surprised if you find that the likes of...
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Chris, I’m surprised you fell prey to this so called Joseph Obiero character. No politician in their right minds would put forth such answers to similarly damn questions.
ReplyDeleteThis is simply anti-Raila propaganda. This is the stuff that instigates and fuels tribal animosity.
This Kibaki operative going by the name of Obiero, would like Kenyans to know that Raila believes 90% of crime is committed by the Kikuyu and that their stay in jail is more urgent than that of Goldendberg/Anglo suspects. While at it, why not throw Ruto in the mix…. creating doubt and disunity. How about capitalize on Musalia’s perceived weaknesses.
I could go on and on..
This is possiblly one of the posts that you should delete.
Chris whatever your objective for this post it has fallen flat and kissing the ground. One you FELL for a prank as an interview. Two the imagination is so low that it amounts to collective abuse of your readers. You don't need any formal education to know that politicians sup with the devil for votes and NONE would talk ill of his potential bedmate. I never fancy any polticiacian but RO is smarter than you are portraying.
ReplyDeleteIn short you have GOOFED large scale brother and thanks for abusing us electronically. You have provided free cannon fodder for your bashers. You started sheap so get ready for cheap and nasty tirades. You asked for it.
what is it that you dint want to beleive about it i wonder? Your presidential aspirant's (RO) motto is quite clearly - USE THEM AND DUMP THEM! But then again - what else is new?
ReplyDeleteThis is whack at the very best.
ReplyDeleteKumekucha,
ReplyDeleteIf RO can actually pull this one off, i.e. sleep with the devil, win the elections and consign the devil where he/she? belongs (prosecution), he would be our tribe's (common man's) hero. However, this is not the way Kenyan politics works. The moment he tries to prosecute Ruto or sideline Mudavadi, support from the RV and western alliance will disappear. Most likely all RV and western MPs will troop to the opposition (Nark-k, etc) then he will be forced into an aliance with Ford-K (remember GNU?). We would end up the same place we are today. This is a risk he would not even contemplate of taking. Therefore i doubt the credibility of this post.
The same argument goes to PANU side, i.e Kibaki would be hesitant to prosecute the Goldenberg and Anglo-leasing fellows on his side for the same reasons. However, a Kibaki win + parliamentary majority is likely to witness more corruption-related prosecutions against those in the opposition (Ruto, et al) and those who won't make it back to parliament (i suspect kina Murungarus, etc). My argument is based on two reasons. 1) For the first time in his presidency he will enjoy some measure of 'legitimacy', and 2); he will be having nothing to lose, being his final term. Notice that if he doesn't get a majority MPs, then again, we end up in the same situation we are in today...(remember GNU?)
JEFF
Anyone who read/listened to Raila's official speech titled "What Role Does Ethnicity Play in Africa's Elective Politics?" in Denver ,Colorado cant but see through the propaganda that Chris and Obiero have posted here today.
ReplyDeleteThat speech was, in my opinon, the first time any leader in Kenya has come close to describing how tribalism has brought about inequalities that are evident in our country and how much tribalism has stiffled development since independence. I just wish some newspaper in Kenya or Kumekucha here, can publish this speech in this forum for the likes of Kioko and the many Kibaki tena anonymouses to read and understand the ethnicity plague in Kenya and beyond.
There is no way that Raila could have uttered those those lines Chris and Obiero attribute to him. This is a potential head of state and a pan africanist. Anyone who has followed his rich political history knows which ideals Raila stands for. Retribution or revenge are certainly not one of them.
A pan africanist involved in molasses theft? A panafricanist too afraid to face the knife? A panafricanist who can barely talk anything beyond "Kalonzo na mpira?" Getting votes from Kenyans is not like fishing for omenas in the dirty kavirondo gulf. It is not like wife inheritance. Let the idiot know Kenya has it owners!! Yes, we Bantus are the owners of Kenya. Kioko. BC. Canada.
ReplyDeleteChris... and all others commenting here. a general comment. Kenyans best just forget about any prosecutions. They will never come. If you want to know. That little thing your hiding. That little one Im hiding. Those are the ones that will be exposed and prosecuted. In order for us not to end up in jail, both you and I will have to get political Godfathers. To do this we will have to have something to offer them. So we will have to do yet larger corrupt deals till we get enough money to cover our behinds and in so doing become exactly the same as those we were crying to prosecute. Raila today talked tough about corruption when he arrived at the airport. Ive said in these comments before. ODM has amongst it luminaries people who are just as guilty of corruption as those in Moi or Kibakis Government. Possibly the only difference is that because In those days (early Kanu 70-90's) there was less for the taking. Lets get one thing straight. You will not succeed in jailing the likes of Biwott. An attempt to do so will destabilise your government (read a Raila or Kibaki) government and expose you to a very serious attempt on ones life. Kibaki and his guys learn that very quickly. thats why they suddenly forgot about corruption being an issue. Survival was far more important. In fact if Raila were to at this stage mention specific names (the scandals not the individuals) that he will ensure are deal with thouroughly,i highly doubt he will reach Christmas in one piece. The desperation of Kenyans, In and out of the system and our affinity for corruption both in and out of the system will ensure this. You and I dont fully appreciate when 'you check your bank balance and find 500m' believe you me, your way of thinking changes. Especially when the money peddaled by the corrupt big boys can seriously influence the political platform. For any new or the incumbent president its the easiest thing to hide behind the 'law and due process' to shield offenders especially when a billion or two comes your way once a year. As for the public and promises made. WHO CARES. youve reached where you wanted to go and they can go to hell. Unfortunately thats the truth. Kenyans have to eat to stay alive and after much protesting we will go back to our houses and work and continue to slog it out.
ReplyDeletePeople. YOU WILL NOT SEE, MOI, OR BIWOTT, OR KIBAKI, OR MURUNGARU, OR KIRAITU, OR SALLY KOSGEY, OR KOSGEY, OR RUTO, OR UHURU, OR GIDEON, OR RAILA, OR SAITOTI OR NTIMAMA, OR PATTNI, OR GUMO, or NJONJO, or any of the other big bosses of corruption in jail. NOT ONE. But you could see me or yourself there.
So lets all stop dreaming cause it wont happen. We just need to strengthen our current institutions and seal all loopholes and hopefully we can make good of this country in future. Neither will we get any money back unless as Raila was saying we agree to plea bargain, take the money (and or land) back (that has been aquired corruptly) and not prosecute anyone. This I believe is the only way forward. Then possibly we can recover something. But as for anyone going to JAIL. Real Jail? forget it.
Kenyaone
I fully agree with you - I once had the dream to see law applied and these people being sentenced (and as I said, the key to their cells thrown into the Indian Ocean forever) .....
ReplyDeleteBut I have become realistic and that also means being realistic about the fact that Kenyans - the ordinary Kenyans - have suffered enough and trying to prosecute the 'big shots' would lead only to more suffering for them .......
So I agree with you, let's take what is possible - and if that means to get some of the money and some of the land - let's make that offer ..... but nothing less and these people have to realize that this is their last chance to avoid other legal consequencies -
Because let's agree on one thing: letting them go off the hook for good, would mean to bow to them and their greed (as it has always happened in the past with the excuse 'but we cannot prosecute the Kenyattas, the Mois, the Biwotts ..... and the Odingas and all the rest of all these big people ..... we simply cannot because the law - their law since they have established all these rules themselves and for themselves) ....
Otherwise, tomorrow you will have to accept that others continue doing the same and maybe even more than they ever did because they can be sure that no Kenyan and no Kenyan Court will ever condemn them -
The word will be out and will be shouting at the world: in Kenya you just have to have power and you can loot, steal, corrupt and even kill .... and you still will be regarded a 'powerful and influencial personality occupying even the highest positions in Government'....and the biggest 'joke' of all, being called 'Honourable' ......
Do you really want to accept this? Can you defend this? Tell this to an ordinary Kenyan .... and then you will get an answer ..... an answer which should give you sleepless nights at least as long as your human conscious still exists .......
I am ending this with the same words as I begun it: I had a dream once ....... but I want to change it: I still have that dream ...... let's dream together .... also dreams can become reality ...... even or especially in Kenya.
Marianne Briner
Kioko is hilarious, he makes white racists in America look innocent with some of his idiotic comments. Kenya has it's owners!! You will see how the true owners vote in December. Kioko do us all a favour, no let me rephrase that, do yourself a favour and come out of the closet now. Quit telling yourself that you're not a homosexual come to terms with who you are and then maybe you can rid yourself of all that hate. The worst thing about a hater such as yourself is that you don't realize that for one to be hater they must realize that the target of their hate is doing good. So right now your perceived enemies are brushing off their shoulders!
ReplyDeleteKumekucha,
ReplyDeleteIthink You would rather find a better way to carry out propagada. This one is so obvious propagada that even a todler will not buy it. If I may ask how much have you been paid by the mafia to propagate this ?