ODM has no right to bully coalition partners to support Kenya Kwanza

Ever since the historic general election of 2002 that brought President Mwai Kibaki to power, Kenya's politics has been coalitional in nature.

Kibaki's victory over KANU's Uhuru Kenyatta in the aforementioned election followed the formation of the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), which saw the coming together of many of the country's then-opposition-affiliated leaders.

There has since been the 'ODM Pentagon' of 2007, the CORD Coalition of 2013, the NASA Coalition of 2017, and, lately, the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition of 2022. One thing is noteworthy, though. Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has been the 'cock of the walk' in all the coalitions it's has joined. In 2013, it produced the Cord Coalition's joint presidential candidate; Raila Odinga. Ditto 2017 and 2022, when it, together with others, formed the NASA and Azimio Coalitions, respectively.

Particular behavioural traits set ODM apart, though. While an equal partner in the coalitions, it has almost always 'reserved the right' to produce the joint presidential candidate. Its joining these coalitions has been conditioned on its producing a joint presidential candidate. And it's been embroiled in tussles with partners over the sharing of the money due to political parties in all the coalitions.

ODM stands out for a near-peculiar predilection for violent resolution of issues. Recently, for instance, someone saw it fit to set goons on Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka and other Azimio top honchos at a press conference that Raila Odinga had attended because Kalonzo was going to say the coalition is opposed to 'soul-saving' dialogue with William Ruto's unpopular, protest-battered Kenya Kwanza regime.

What happened to the concept and meaning of internal democracy? In the United States, when some Republicans led by then-President Donald Trump sought to repeal or abrogate the Obama-era healthcare program, popularly known as 'Obamacare', the move was opposed, unsurprisingly, by some senior members of the Republican party, including John McCain, Barack Obama's opponent in the 2008 White House race.

It gave the world a rare glimpse into the beauty of mature democracy. Those opposed to the move weren't victimised for seeing things from a different perspective from that of Trump. In the case of Kalonzo, and those in Azimio opposed to ODM's newfound 'love affair' with Kenya Kwanza, it was clear that joining the Ruto side in what has since been pawned off as a "broad-based government" would be a betrayal of both the Gen Z who, not long ago, died and were maimed for protesting against official corruption, incompetence and the lack of accountability among State officers, as well as punitive tax hikes. The vast majority of Kenyans supported the Gen Z-led protests.

And politicians purporting to engage in dialogue aimed at "saving the country" were seen, rightly, as a hijacking of the youth's cause. Kalonzo and those in Azimio opposed to such a dalliance with Kenya Kwanza chose to be on the people's side. It's even rumoured that within ODM itself, the move to join Kenya Kwanza, contrary to what's been bandied around, didn't follow a chorus of approval.

The question a vast majority of Kenyans ask is: How does the coming together of ODM and Kenya Kwanza, with the sole aim of sharing power, become the answer to the issues raised by Gen Z? Raila has since said "Ruto needed experts to help him turn around the country's economic fortunes". How is former Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho an expert? And what will John Mbadi do differently at the National Treasury that Prof Njuguna Ndung'u couldn't?

One lesson that ODM should learn is that friendships are as much about interests as they are about character. Being a notorious bully soon renders one "unfriend-worthy"! It was Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States between 1913 and 1921, who put it thus: "You cannot be friends upon any other terms than upon the terms of equality."