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Raila warms up in effort to 'climb' the mountain

ODM leader Raila Odinga speaks during the burial of former Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo in Ndori, Gem, Siaya County, on June 26. [File, Standard]

ODM leader Raila Odinga has set in motion his plan of claiming Mt Kenya voting bloc, with targeted messaging calculated to endear him to the region.

Raila yesterday granted Kikuyu radio and television stations access to his home and spoke of his law review dreams and also rallied the region behind his State House bid next year.

The former prime minister settled into the interview with a Kikuyu aphorism – Ngari ihitagwo ni mundu na muthoniwe – a leopard is hunted by a man and his in-laws.

The maxim underscored Raila’s statement throughout the hour-long interview as he attempted to disentangle himself from the narrative of a phobia built around him in Mt Kenya.

A leopard is hunted by a man and his father-in-law. Raila is the hunter and after failing to capture the leopard in four previous attempts, he is asking for the support of his figurative and literal in-laws.

Figurative because Raila and President Uhuru Kenyatta have been inseparable since 2018 and refer to each other as brothers. And literal because “my son Junior has married from Murang'a and they recently had a son – Jaramogi Odinga.”

His other son, the late Fidel, had also married a woman from Central Kenya.

Yet, Deputy President William Ruto pre-empted Raila's need for Mt Kenya and he and his allies have been busy. They accuse Raila of derailing the government agenda.

“How did the Handshake stop the Big Four Agenda? I am not in government and no one from my camp is working in government.

"Who has stopped the government from delivering its promises to the people of Kenya?” Raila posed.

It was instructive that Raila chose his statements to deliberately counter a narrative that his candidature would be disruptive to Mt Kenya.

His interview was a sweet tune to the ears of listeners in Mt Kenya who are clamouring for a greater allocation of resources. The interview came on the heels of a similar one by President Kenyatta. 

Regretting last Friday's judgement of the Court of Appeal, Raila said the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) would have helped resolve some of the injustices of the law.

“There has been discrimination in the allocation of resources,” said Raila. “How does Kiambu with 2.5 million people get Sh9 billion and Mandera with 800,000 people get Sh12 billion?”

ODM leader Raila Odinga. [File, Standard]

He further said that with the initiative held up by the courts, some counties in Mt Kenya region such as Nyeri and Murang'a might lose constituencies – Othaya, Mukurweini, Tetu and Mathioya – because they do not meet the constitutional threshold.

The population quota, according to the 2019 census, has risen from 133,000 to 164,000 people, which leaves the constituencies up for boundary review should the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) conduct the process.

Raila wants Mt Kenya to see him not as the bogeyman of the past three elections, but as a man whose actions had partly resulted in the development of the region.

He mentioned the Mau Mau Road linking Murang'a and Nyandarua and the Thika Highway, both of which were mooted during his time as prime minister between 2007 and 2013. 

"This road that is under construction now from Kenol to Marua was my plan and I thank President Kenyatta for fulfilling the plan," said Raila.

That answer did not come in a vacuum, it was deliberate to counter a narrative that Raila was bad for Mt Kenya business.

The ODM leader also stated that ‘Raila-phobia’ should be a thing of the past because he closely worked with former President Mwai Kibaki.

“I campaigned for Kibaki when he was in a wheelchair in 2002. I visited several parts of Central Kenya.

“There was a time I was like a saint in Mt Kenya…we even did his (Kibaki’s) swearing-in when he was on a wheelchair,” he said.

Raila reiterated President Kenyatta's remarks on Monday that there was no political intention to their Handshake or the BBI.

"We had a very honest intention. There were a lot of challenges in the country after the election and the subsequent nullification and repeat election. There was a lot of demonstration, fighting, boycotts and the economy was crumbling," he said.

ODM leader Raila Odinga during the launch of BBI signatures collection exercise. [File, Standard]

On BBI, Raila spoke like a man who was concerned about a loss, but also about a judgement that he reasoned would make the Constitution impossible to amend through the popular initiative.

Kenya got a new Constitution in 2010 but it had underlying issues.

Raila defended the BBI process, saying sufficient effort had been put in to collect public views and have the Bill endorsed by Kenyans.

“How can they say there was no public participation when people signed?” he posed.

“Therefore, I do not understand this judgement by the Court of Appeal saying the people were not involved. I do not see how we can change this Constitution through a popular initiative... The courts have made it impossible to amend the Constitution even if it was necessary.”

But comparing the hostile reception the BBI has received to the backlash Kenneth Matiba and Charles Rubia received when they were calling for a repeal of Section 2A, he said Kenyans had a history of denying what was good for them.

"They (Rubia and Matiba) were called tribalists for wanting to introduce multi-partyism. They were told Kenya would be ready for multiparty in 100 years," Raila recalled.

By digging up his history of detention in the early ’90s and invoking Matiba and Rubia, he was essentially making a case for why Mt Kenya should back him.

Raila also extended calls for Ruto to leave office if his position has become untenable.