Genesis and progression of Raila-Kalonzo wars

By Oscar ObonyoA vicious physical fight between MPs Ayiecho Olweny and Moffat Maitha at the nascent stage of the Raila Odinga-Kalonzo Musyoka political pact reportedly poisoned the alliance between the two leaders beyond repair.
In a shocking revelation in his new book, The Politics of Betrayal, politician Joe Khamisi lays bare details of the ugly incident – a most guarded secret among legislators – that unfolded in May 2005.
The brawl between Olweny, an ally of Raila, and Maitha, an ally of Kalonzo, developed from a simple argument over hotel room allocation during a retreat of Liberal Democratic Party-allied MPs in Naivasha.
The argument, according to Khamisi, was why Secretary General Mumbi Ng’aru, had not allocated Mary Mbandi, a Kalonzo aide, a room at the lodge. According to Ng’aru, Mbandi had not been invited and had no role in the discussions to start the following morning. "Maitha, a Kamba, charged that the exclusion of Mbandi, also a Kamba, was deliberately meant to humiliate her and undermine Kalonzo. Other MPs from his region supported Maitha," writes Khamisi, who served as LDP vice-chairman.
The former Bahari MP reveals the argument soon led to shoving, throwing of ashtrays "and very abusive ethnic epithets". It is at this point that Olweny and Maitha violently charged at each other.
Symptomatic reactionAccording to Khamisi, this confrontation was only but a symptomatic reaction of an already strained Raila-Kalonzo relationship. Indeed, the genesis and progression of the Raila-Kalonzo battles dominates 18 of 29 chapters of the 379-page book.
"It was at that meeting in Naivasha that Kalonzo fulminated against the media over references to Raila as the de facto LDP leader," writes Khamisi.
According to Khamisi the Raila-Kalonzo turf wars mainly took the tribal dimension leaving non-Luo and Kamba MPs mere spectators of the ugly drama. Later, the tussle for ODM-Kenya, would take a similar tribal angle with Daniel Maanzo and Larry Gumbe quarrelling over ownership of the party.
Animosity between the two heightened after the 2005 referendum after a leaked report of the so-called Council of Elders headed by Nambale MP Chris Okemo, which favoured Kalonzo as the most suitable flag bearer of all his colleagues in the Orange Movement.
Leaked report
"Since the leaked report, his detractors wanted to isolate him; to make him a pariah in ODM-Kenya.
At selective nighttime meetings in restaurants – from Palacina in town to Rusty Nail in the Karen suburbs – Kalonzo was the subject of discussions. A strategy was worked out to malign his reputation and to paint him, not like the angel he claimed to be, but a land grabber who had stolen from the landless," writes Khamisi.
Then, Raila, Kalonzo, as well as fellow presidential hopefuls, Uhuru Kenyatta, Musalia Mudavadi, Najib Balala, William Ruto and Julia Ojiambo, were members of the Orange Movement and had agreed to field a single candidate against President Kibaki.
Series of meetingsSix months to the 2007 General Election, backstabbing and political competition between the two had peaked. In a similar fashion as the developments of today where key political players have ganged up against the Prime Minister, Kalonzo and Kanu’s Uhuru Kenyatta held a series of meetings to plot against Raila.
The initial plot was hatched at Uhuru’s private offices at the Chancery Building, along Valley Road, Nairobi, on July 4, 2007. Earlier in the day, a host of Kenyan top leaders, including Vice-President Moody Awori, Raila and Kalonzo had been at the residence of US Ambassador Michael Ranneberger to mark US Independence Day.
"As I made my way out of the envoy’s residence, Kalonzo pulled me aside and told me of the evening’s rendezvous, just at the precise time when Raila and his wife were bidding farewell to the host. It was to be a secret meeting…" recalls the former MP.
Khamisi captures the mood at that discreet meeting: "Daggers were drawn that evening at Chancery House. Neither the son of Jomo nor the son of Mairu had kind words for Raila. After all, Raila had masterminded Uhuru’s defeat at the 2002 presidential election, and he was now frustrating Kalonzo’s quest for the presidency."
Other Kalonzo allies, MPs David Musila and Nyiva Mwendwa and Uhuru allies, Dalmas Otieno, Marsden Madoka and Naomi Shaban, also attended the meeting.
Powerful movementUhuru reportedly told those present he had called the meeting to discuss possibilities of forming a powerful movement against "Raila’s dictatorial ways".
"This alliance must be formidable enough to stop Raila, otherwise, this man will give us trouble," Uhuru set the tempo with Kalonzo chipping in that Raila was acting like a "prefect and treating colleagues like children".
"Can you imagine what Raila will do to all of us? He will step all over the rest of us after he becomes president. We should not allow that to happen," Khamisi quotes Kalonzo as saying.
According to the book’s author, it is this meeting that marked the beginning of the end of formidable opposition against Kibaki. Soon after, Uhuru retreated to his Kanu party and to Kibaki’s corner under PNU, while Kalonzo’s detour was different – taking over the original ODM-Kenya and later teaming up with Kibaki and Uhuru in Government after the chaotic 2007 General Election.