With his KANU 'empire' having crumbled in less than 5 years after he left power, it was rather ridiculous this week to hear former President Moi boasting that he has planted makachero (swahili for spies) in the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and that ODM should brace for a political fight of their lives. It is telling that, perhaps in a bid to sabotage the process, his remarks were made just when ODM is about to start its national parliamentary and civic nominationsIt is an open secret that the former president is struggling to remain politically relevant. PNU is demanding political insurance premiums be kept up to date. Regrettably he appears to have convinced Kibaki and his team that he can actually deliver Rift Valley votes to PNU. Moi's relentless efforts to convince voters in the expansive Rift Valley to avoid ODM appear to have largely failed. All recent provincial opinion polls show that ODM's Raila Odinga is far ahead of the President Kibaki in that province. ODM itself has attracted an average of 15 aspirants in most of the constituencies in Rift Valley including several in Baringo Central which the president represented in parliament since independence to the time he retired in 2002, afterwhich his son Gideon took over the mantle 'unopposed'.
To add insult to injury, nearly all of Moi's close associates have defected to ODM and the former president (with only his fellow octogenarian Ezekiel Bargetuny at his side) wants to make it look like he engineered these defections. The revered Kalenjin Council of Elders has already installed ODM pentagon members Raila and Ruto Kalenjin elders (a ritual Moi himself never underwent despite his more than half century as a key politician from Rift Valley). The strong ODM wave in Rift Valley seems to be unstoppable.
Recently, the Chairman of the ODM Election Board, Justice (rtd) Richard Kwach was quoted as saying that the board was well aware that some aspirants had been planted in ODM nominations so as to cause confusion and that they are well known. Some of these aspirants have themselves confessed to the board.
My own take is that Moi has caused enough embarrassment to himself, his family and to this country by engaging in partisan politics. He should enjoy his retirement and let Kenyans (or in this case Kalenjins) chart their way forward unhindered.
Moi has become irrelevant in today's politics, yes he has a right to vote for whoever he likes but should not tell us who to vote for. We are no longer watoto wa nyayo drinking maziwa ya nyayo and singing tawala Kenya tawala. Having been intoxicated by maziwa ya nyayo we would not hear anything against the owner of KANU which used to be our baba na mama, even when our real baba na mama's would complain about him and switch off the one channel television that was full of him. Please Mzee retire peacefully and stop irritating us with your grouse.
ReplyDeleteSue, why is Moi irrelevant? Because he is supporting Kibaki and PNU. That is why you are saying that he is irrelevant. When he supported the NO camp during the referendum he was not. He was a good man and all of you people were singing praises about the wisdom in him and the direction he took. Hypocrites.
ReplyDeleteMoi is a statemen, he is a Kenyan and like Raphael Tuju and Odongo Omamo then or Okiki Amayo or Walter Odede and Omolo Agar, he has a choice to make and no amount of intimidation will stop his being relevant.
It is a strong word, a word that you might not have weighed before writing. Irrelevant, Why use the terminology. Because he does not support Raila Odinga. Poor Sue.
You say that he has no right to tell you who to vote for. Then go ahead and exercise you own right as a Kenyan and vote for the loser you are supporting. That he can change the tide of politics does speak volumes about his irrelevance.
Like him, I say and as he says, ODM is a tribal outfit, managed by tribal shysters, campaiging on a tribal platform.
That is why ODM neglects the rest of Rift Valley, and goes for the Kalenjin Rift Valley on the belief that Kosgeys and Ruto will deliver.
No, Rift Valley has more than 20 different tribes living there and they include a Luhya trait in Kitale, and Maasai in the Kajiado and Narok areas, the Kikuyu in Molo and Nakuru and even the Endorois.
Let Moi enjoy his birthright. He is Kenyan and as free as a bird to land on any tree or a bee to pollinate any nectar he likes.