Raila Launches Campaign For The Presidency

Three incidences have happened over the last few days that leave no doubt over the fact that Raila has already launched his campaign for the Presidency.

Incident Number One: Raila donates bulls, sacks of maize and trophies at Rarienda constituency in Nyanza to thank voters for turning up in large numbers for the November 21 referendum poll. Rarienda is significant because it is the home of the only Nyanza MP who has dared stand up to Raila, foreign minister Raphael Tuju. The exercise is set to be carried out countrywide and throughout Nyanza but it has not been lost on political analysts that Raila chose to start at Rarienda where the electorate firmly voted against their own MP who was campaigning for a “yes” vote.

Incident Number Two: Raila hits out at Musikari Kombo’s leadership style and says he is incapable of being president. He adds that the man is too weak and unprincipled to be President of Kenya. He gives the example of the recent incident where Kombo demanded government jobs for members of his party in return for taking up his cabinet appointment and keeping his party in the greatly weakened ruling coalition. Kombo has already indicated his interest in running for the presidency in 2007.

Incident Number Three: The LDP pours cold water on poll results by Steadman and Associates that shows Kalonzo Musyoka ahead of all other candidates, including President Kibaki, in terms of popularity for the Presidency. The party says that Musyoka’s nomination to run for the presidency will not be automatic and he will have to fight it out with other LDP candidates (including Raila of course).

It has already been announced (just yesterday) that LDP will nominate their presidential candidate at a national delegate’s conference. All three leading LDP candidates (Raila, Kalonzo Musyoka and former VP Musalia Mudavadi) were victims of a Moi-orchestrated delegates conference that locked them out of the Presidential race in favour of Uhuru Kenyatta in 2002. So with that kind of experience the LSDP delegates’ conference is set to be the event of the next general election – assuming that all contenders remain in the party and in the running for the party ticket.

The pace has picked up tremendously and it seems that LDP is preparing for the snap poll they predicted will happen in 2006.

Meanwhile Kenyans are divided almost 50/50 over the issue of the snap poll. Despite President Kibaki’s unpopularity some Kenyans who voted "No" in the November 21st referendum are in favor of waiting until 2007. The big question is, can the starving, desperate masses in Kenya wait? LDP and Raila don’t think so.
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Can Raila "Kibaki Tosha" Odinga Be The Fourth President Of Kenya?

The news that former Roads minister Raila Odinga will run against President Kibaki in the next General Election may not have come as a surprise to many who have closely been following recent political developments in Kenya.

However the big question is this. Is the man whose “Kibaki tosha” statement helped get President Kibaki to State House, ready for the big job?

If we start talking about one of Raila’s favourite subject – that is personal sacrifices made on behalf of Kenyans - then he has no equal. The man has spent so much time in political detention and suffered tremendously alongside his late father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. The older Odinga was once the vice President in founding father, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta’s government before the two fell out in circumstances that are not very different from the way Raila and President Kibaki have fallen out.

Probably an even bigger question is, in the event that Raila is defeated in his party’s nomination process, will his radical supporters accept defeat and support the winner?

There is little doubt that Raila-phobia (described as fear of Raila’s real intentions and power with the masses) is set to spread amongst his colleagues in ODM and LDP over the next few weeks and months (watch this space for regular updates).

Raila has played a major role in voicing the feelings of the vast majority of frustrated Kenyans who are utterly disgusted and disillusioned about the Kibaki administration and there is no doubt that many voters will remember that in 2007. However when it comes to rallying the whole country to stand behind Raila for the Presidency, it becomes a totally different matter. There is probably nobody more deserving of the position at the moment but then politics is not about that.
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