There is a well-choreographed story doing rounds on social media questioning Raila's ability to clinch the Presidency after three ‘failed attempts’. The creators of this debate argue out that Raila is best suited in marshalling his nationwide support to vote a different candidate like he did in 2002 in support for former president Mwai Kibaki than marshalling the same voters to support him.
This leaves me wondering how sometimes Kenyans can be unfair to Raila Odinga. The castigators of this debate have even gone ahead and released pictures of a possible line up dubbed ‘The Winning Team' with Kalonzo Musyoka as the preferred presidential candidate with Musalia Mudavadi as his deputy and Moses Wetangula appearing somewhere between the Speaker of The National Assembly and majority leader.
Raila is given the position of a Director! This kept me wondering where in the Government structure of Kenya we find a position of a ‘Director of government’. Let’s call spade a spade; This proposed political alignment is ethnic-based, meant to throw the Western's Luhya and Eastern's votes into a single basket of CORD to avoid the swing-vote possibility largely relied upon by Jubilee. In this arrangement, Raila and his followers are simply expected to shelve their aspirations and expectations for the ‘common good', that is, to remove Jubilee from power. The question however remains that how many times will Raila and his followers allow themselves to be used for the ‘common good’ that never turns out to be good?
In a country where party loyalty has a price and can be bought by the highest bidder, one can’t stop wondering if the proposed line up is just but another proceed of the monies put aside by Jubilee to buy out the opposition's supporters and in this case, opposition line up. It is not in question that Raila remains the most fierce threat against Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election bid and carries the hopes of millions of his supporters who have over the years stood with him patiently with hopes for a new country, at least new in the context of a leadership that has always stood for the welfare of the common mwananchi.
Raila supporting another candidate will not only break the spirit of his supporters, but may also lead to the highest percentage of voter apathy ever experienced before, something that Jubilee may greatly reap from. Raila's supporters, who obviously are larger in number than those of Wetangula and Kalonzo combined, deserve a chance to have their leader supported too by the other CORD principles; that is the way to go. In a bid to consolidate the votes of the opposition, the CORD leaders should be working on preparing their people from their strongholds in voting out Jubilee, in spite of their regions.
A united opposition should be working on showcasing the failures of the government in relation to its pledges because in five years, the government must have had new enemies, especially those who were keen to see the government deliver on its pledges. A united opposition behind their current leader Raila Odinga remains the strongest and possible government in waiting. So contrary to what the owners of the ‘Raila-should-endorse' debate believe in, I still believe Raila stands the best chance not only to Marshall enough voters to vote out the Jubilee government, but also to give this country a different kind of leadership that would shape up the politics and economy of this country for years to come.
