Raila takes continental position with gusto

Opposition leader Raila Odinga has met five African Presidents in the past month, in what appears to be aimed at expanding his network.

Observers say the former premier’s role as African Union High Representative for Infrastructure Development has offered him a continental stage, with access to a vital network of leaders and useful contacts, should he decide to run for presidency in 2022.

Raila himself has neither denied nor confirmed that his name will be on the ballot in the poll.

The latest meeting was in London on Tuesday this week, where he met the President of Sierra Leone Julius Maada Bio.

Raila was in London for a talk at Chatham House on the legacy of Kofi Annan, as he prepared to leave for Russia.

The two leaders held talks on issues of trade and infrastructure ties among African nations. It is not clear if it was a planned meeting or the two just bumped into each other, but it came just two weeks after the ODM leader visited four African countries in a span of five days.

On May 22, Raila was in Juba, where he met South Sudan President Salva Kiir and held talks that focused on infrastructure development and regional stability.

The previous day Raila was in Accra, Ghana, for a meeting with President Nana Akufo-Addo.

On May 20, he held talks with President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger on the African Continental Free Trade Area, the Inga Dam as well as the open skies agreement. They also discussed the upcoming AU summit in Niamey.

On May 19, Raila held talks in Kinshasa with President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo on the construction of the Kinshasa-Brazzaville Bridge that is part of the Tripoli-Cape Town Trans Africa Highway.

This was the third time he was meeting Tshisekedi, having met him twice in Nairobi in March.

Observers believe Raila is on a mission to expand his international network should he still want to run for presidency, amid suspicion that President Uhuru Kenyatta may back him.

“It’s for both; Raila is not a man who will let any opportunity go. He has a better international network outside Africa and he may want to be reaching out to more leaders in the continent. He will use this opportunity to rally Africa both for his role as AU representative and for personal networking,” said University of Nairobi lecturer Harman Manyara.

According to the political analyst, Raila might also be serving as a special envoy of Uhuru on some key bilateral and multilateral issues, in the assumption that the former PM is Uhuru’s preferred successor at the expense of Deputy President William Ruto.

This theory is reinforced by the type of protocol arrangements made for Raila’s trips and the teams accompanying him.

“Should President Uhuru Kenyatta opt to back him and they have a kind of Putin-Medved arrangement in Russia, which obviously seeks to exclude DP Ruto and maybe unpopular, then the ongoing networking comes into play,” says Manyara.

In 2008, Vladimir Putin groomed Dmitry Medvedev to succeed him in a carefully choreographed arrangement that saw Medvedev later pick Putin for Prime Minister.

Then in 2011, Medvedev gave the presidency back to Putin.

But National Assembly Minority Whip and Suna East MP Junet Mohamed, who is a key Raila ally, said the country should not read too much into Raila’s trips.

“It’s for a fact that as a special envoy it requires that he contacts many presidents and Heads of State to discuss how to expand African infrastructure,” said Mr Junet.

“But you must also know Raila is not a new guy in African politics. He has in the past been used by AU in peace roles and he enjoys a big network both in Africa and across the globe,” he added.

As for Raila’s bilateral talks with world leaders, Junet said; “Under the framework of Handshake, if he sees anything good for the country, he will not hesitate to engage if he feels such discussions are of importance to the wellbeing and interest of the country.”

Senate Majority leader Kipchumba Murkomen downplayed Raila’s trips.

“When he was Prime Minister, he met so many presidents and lost elections. Even if he is in another round of those meetings, to me that is inconsequential. All we know is that he will be candidate in 2022 and such trips won’t help him,” he said.