Supporters of ODM presidential candidate Raila Odinga are still in shock after watching a man who appeared to be the candidate being interviewed on the popular NTV “On The Spot” TV show yesterday.
The man stammered, looked tired and almost withdrawn and was a far cry from the usual Raila Odinga that Kenyans have gotten used to.
Further enquiries by this blogger revealed that the NTV performance was not the only time that supporters of the man have gotten worried. In an address to ODM supporters in South Africa a few weeks ago, a source tells me that those who attended the meeting were surprised and disappointed that the man just repeated himself and did not say anything new or relevant to the particular function.
Clearly all is not well with the ODM presidential candidate.
One theory puts it down to the extreme pressure the presidential candidate has been putting himself under in recent times. Kenyans have seen Raila arrive from an overseas trip during the day, only to realize during the 9 pm TV new bulletin that he also made it to a political rally in some far flung area of the country. It seems that this kind of pressure is finally taking its’ toll on the presidential candidate. Experts advice that he should be careful to take enough rest and to limit his public engagements from now on.
Interestingly the Nation On the Spot series to discuss the various party manifestos are being held in the residence of the candidates and...
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Chris, Raila is as human as Kibaki, or you and me. it can be brutally exhausting. I can't even imagine being on the campaign trail.
ReplyDeleteHis 'handlers' should probably do what Raila did for Kibaki in '02 (and we successfully repeated the following year in our college student elections to put in the guy who had very poor oratory skills)-limit his public speaking to high profile events. That way, he gets the limelight without getting unnecessarily burnt out. He can't afford that now. Trouble is, I don't know who can pull the masses nearly as well as Raila does.
For once PKW - you are talking sense.
ReplyDeleteChris, Raila is human. Rila is 60+ years old. Raila spent an accumulative 10 years in solitary confinement. You and I know what Manyani, Shimo La Tewa and Kamiti Prisons are. One only needs to see what has become of Kenneth Matiba to appreciate that it is not easy surviving Moi's torture cells at Nyayo House.
Another thing Chris, Raila and his wife Ida have been leading and longtime members of Tianshi in Kenya which sells Chinese food supplements. I am inclined to believe these highly popular chinese supplements are what gives Raila the energy we see in his campaign rallies.
FYI, Raila has been out of the country for two weeks. Most of those celphone interviews we heard during the ODM nominations found him overseas and althought journalists thought Raila was in Kenya, his safaricom line was actually roaming and only the pentagon know where he is currently. Therefore the NTV interview was not "live" as NMG tried to make us believe.
I watched the interview and although Raila did stammer at some point, he did not repeat himself. This interview was carried out late in the night at Raila's Karen residence as he was preparing to take flight out of Kenya.
Appreciate one thing - we all have our low and high times! In anycase, when will Kibaki and Kalonzo accept Raila's challenge to a public debate?????????????
That human beings are falliable is not debatable. But that aside you don't appear in a show to yawn, or do you? Raila is human and can only do so much. For good measure his energy and performance need be compared to his competitors. But you know asking Emilio for an interview is open a can of worms both from Lucy and Artus.
ReplyDeleteEven Mugabe gives selective interviews and Moi used to albeit from without. 5 years no candid nor one-to-one interview and here we are yapping manager, my foot!
To play the devil advocate Tinga may be playing with our mind and already ACTING PRESIDENTIAL. that may explain the lack of vogorous nodding, passion and attendant boredom. The chaps is SHEDDING off the activist tag.
One thing is for sure, Raila has no foot soldiers to take the REAL flack from him. His fate may be tired to that of Brown who waited for 10 years to PM and now goofing large scale because unlike Blair he has no shadows lurking behind him.
PS: Question. Can we have a live debate between the BIG three before the elections? Chris any takers?
Phil(lip/emon) I'll respond to this one: I've long understood your kind of sense to mean talking in support of or in sympathy of Raila, so I'm not surprised.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, your man get his act together, otherwise his chances at the presidency are gonna follow suit.
I didnt seen the man talk. What I know is that campaigns can seriously wear out a man especially one who is over 60 as Phil says.
ReplyDeleteI however do not agree when Taabu says that Raila has no people who can do the donkey work for him. Musalia Mudavadi(someone called him a zombie) can do a wonderful job for Raila. He is in my opinion smarter than Raila. Raila can only perform better than hm when he is talking about his pet subject--"solitary confinement". On any issue that affects the Kenyan, Mudavadi is more articulate despite his 'zombieness'
Debate for all presidential candidates? Well, Phil you cannot ask Kalonzo when he is going to accept Raila's supposed invitation for a debate in public. When was the invitation and when did he turn it down? Kalonzo can win that one hands down if we bar all rhetoric and meaningless repetition.(You know Raila gives copy cat inerviews day in day out.) As for Kibaki, I think he is not the once-upon-a-time Kibaki. I remember an 'up close and candid' debate on Nation TV in August 2002(With Orengo, Gitobu Imanyara and William Ruto) and I ask myself, what happened? He should not come near uncouth competitors now by virtue of being president but he should at least appear in a TV talk show to give an account of his five year administration. We gave him the score card in public, he must hand it in in public.
Finally, why act presidential when you know you can never be president?
Kumekucha should declare which party he supports. I think he is routing for ODM-K??What with their nominations were ''excellent'' when we all know otherwise and now he tries to form opinions in our minds on a show we all watched?? What's up?? Yes RAO stammered, but if u r keen he always stammers, this is not the first time! Pliz he handled the interview quite well that's why Kibaki announced the next day that some people were dreaming bcoz the daring ideas appears to him as dreams!
ReplyDeleteAs i said before, Raila needs to smile more when he is campaigning at his rallies-cheer up man, haven't opinion polls put you consistently ahead, or does success come with its own sorrows?see how President Kibaki beams jovially when he goes on what is now becoming his trademark short-walking tours in various parts of the country and the city at large-his wide smile through pursed lips brightens the slums he is visiting and life has never looked rosier.he looks like one big teddy bear that you want to hug with your vote
ReplyDeleteKalonzo relies too much on his good looks to woo the masses-his moustache is thick and full what lady or party defector can resist the lure of it?all the women voters of Kenya are doing all that they can to resist the urge to vote enmasse for sweet steve-though if they did their numbers are more than 11% and his shock win at the polls would be a true political miracle if ever there was one
Did someone watch Charity Ngilu in 1997 just a week into the election campaigns. She was down and out.
ReplyDeleteIt is tiring and it needs some kind of trojan power to be up and running. I do wonder how Daniel Moi managed it for 24 years of daily travels. It is not easy.
In the case of Raila, it will be a little bit more. He is a worker who believes in doing tnings himself and traversing the country to do the same is his penchant. Do not forget he has been doing it since the Referendum.
Anyway, it counts to win and the toll is great if you have to stay on top.