Photo/PMPS Prime Minister Raila Odinga during the interview with Sunday Nation’s writer Emeka-Mayaka Gekara in the PM’s Nairobi office on December 21, 2011.
By EMEKA-MAYAKA GEKARA gmayaka@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Saturday, December 24 2011 at 22:31
Posted Saturday, December 24 2011 at 22:31
Prime Minister Raila Odinga is confident of winning next year’s elections and does not expect endorsement from his coalition partner.
The PM says that although he endorsed President Kibaki ahead of the 2002 elections with the famous “Kibaki Tosha” declaration — which many Kenyans believe changed the campaign in the then Narc candidate’s favour — it would be opportunistic for him to demand that the President endorses him in return.
“I don’t need him to say Raila Tosha,” Mr Odinga said in an interview with the Sunday Nation in his office.
Speaking on the eve of Christmas festivities ahead of the election year, Mr Odinga said “circumstances have changed” dramatically since the 2002 elections.
Instead of succession politics, Mr Odinga thinks President Kibaki should re-dedicate his energies to build and secure his legacy.
“The President has the freedom and democratic right to either support a candidate or remain neutral but has already indicated that he will not endorse anybody. I think ensuring a peaceful and democratic election next year will be a good and lasting legacy for him,” he said.
An endorsement by the President, who prides himself with a legacy of economic growth and commands loyalty from the most populous central Kenya voting bloc, would most certainly be valuable to any presidential contender .
And, although President Kibaki has declared that he won’t support any particular candidate, the central Kenya power elite around him favours Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta.
Other than endorsing Mr Kibaki, Mr Odinga campaigned vigorously for the Narc candidate especially after he [Kibaki] was involved in a road accident weeks to the elections.
Besides the election, Mr Odinga sees retention of investors and sustaining economic growth as two major challenges for the grand coalition which will be completing its tumultuous five-year journey.
Kenya experiences a periodic cycle in which investors become nervous during the election year and the economy takes a slump.
Next election
This, says Mr Odinga, must be avoided during the next election. “We need to assure the business community that elections are not wars. That elections are platforms for healthy political competition.”
Mr Odinga, however, expects a difficult electoral year ahead as the President retires. “There will be challenges but let us turn them into opportunities. I leave Kenyans with a message of hope. They should keep the hope alive.”
If elections are held next year, this will also be the year when judges of the International Criminal Court will make a decision on whether the two cases involving high-profile Kenyans — including presidential candidates — will be confirmed. (READ: Ocampo Six to know fate on same date)
The cases against Mr Odinga’s opponents — Mr Kenyatta and Eldoret North MP William Ruto — are expected to dramatically influence the course of the next election; whether they are confirmed or not.
Certainly, Mr Odinga will be caught up in a do-or-die duel for the presidency against the PNU Alliance of Mr Kenyatta, Mr Ruto, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka and Internal Security minister George Saitoti. The group has sworn to gang up against the PM, probably in a run-off contest.
Mr Odinga describes the Uhuru-Kalonzo-Ruto axis as “an alliance of desperate political groupings whose only denominator is to stop Raila and ODM”.
“The fact that they feel inadequate individually to face us is a strong statement to the electorate and confirmation that we are the party to beat.
“But we don’t underrate anybody. Everybody has the ability to run for election. Our opponents are men and women of influence who, like us, have strengths and weaknesses.”
He advises members of the Alliance to develop a coherent political agenda and ideology and encourage intellectual debate around issues that concern Kenyans.
Mr Odinga was not categorical on whether the country will be ready for polls in August. “That would depend on the electoral commission but a country should be ready for elections any day. Kenya should be able to conduct elections any day.”
President Kibaki and Mr Odinga have for the past four years led a coalition which has been largely defined by mutual suspicion and devious rivalry that has occasionally raised anxiety and attracted international attention.
“Discipline suffers because of rivalries. You try to discipline a fellow and he runs to the other side. That is why you hear people making disco dance speeches.”During the interview with the Sunday Nation, Mr Odinga indicated that running coalitions is not the easiest of things.
Mr Odinga singles out the enactment of the Constitution, improvement of infrastructure and legislation on elections and political parties as the major success stories of the coalition government.
Other achievements
“We had a crisis but they say a crisis can herald an opportunity, which we exploited to pass the new Constitution.”
The other achievements, according to the PM, are a revamped agriculture and revival of collapsed irrigation schemes such as Mwea and Perkerra and conservation of the water towers especially the Mau.
Mr Odinga’s push for the restoration of the Mau Forest Complex, which saw the eviction of hundreds of people, has proved costly to him.
It has angered some members of the Kalenjin community led by Mr Ruto who have cut links with ODM, saying he was persecuting them.
This might deny him a chunk of the community’s vote. The community overwhelmingly backed him in the last elections.
Mr Ruto also seems to have persuaded the Kalenjin that Mr Odinga was responsible for the prosecution of the Ocampo Six, especially he and Mr Kenyatta, at the ICC with the intention of locking them out of the next presidential election.
The same argument seems to have taken root in Central Kenya, Mr Kenyatta’s political base.
This has fuelled considerable resentment towards Mr Odinga. It is for this reason that it is widely expected that confirmation or otherwise of the ICC cases might provoke a backlash for Mr Odinga.
Apparently, the Premier and his handlers have not been successful at fighting off this tag.
This year, Mr Odinga’s office was also in a spot over the use of funds meant for the Kazi Kwa Vijana Programme.
A report by the World Bank revealed that officials in his office had used the funds for purposes not related to the programme. However, the PM denied the allegations, saying no money had been lost. (READ: Raila on the spot over youth funds)
He reckons that the passing of required devolution laws and the fight against corruption will be the main challenges of Parliament next year.Mr Odinga considers the economic stimulus, the Kazi kwa Vijana programme, as well as the programme to build centres of excellence across the country as some of the coalition’s major development projects for the past year.
Private pockets
“We have not won the war on corruption and we must not lose sight. It continues to divert public resources into private pockets.”
Mr Micah Cheserem, the chairman of the Revenue Allocation Commission, has cautioned that the government is way behind schedule in setting up facilities and procedures to guide operations in county governments.
But Mr Odinga accuses Mr Cheserem of exaggerating the extent of the problem. “We are not starting from a vacuum. We have Local Government facilities which can be used to house the devolved governments.
“Mr Cheserem wants us to appoint clerks, et cetra, for the devolved governments. So what are the county governments going to do?”
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