Writer peddled falsehoods in attempt to derail Raila

By Oduor Ong’wen

On Thursday, December 27, 2012, columnist Lance Kipng’etich bombarded us with heavy artillery of lies. I beg to retaliate with facts.

The article titled “How Raila Missed Express Ticket to State House” is, to say the least, a very ineffectual attempt at propaganda.

In a vain attempt to present the Prime Minister as unelectable and a person not to be trusted with the highest office in the land, Kipng’etich’s piece revolved around three pieces of “evidence,” namely that Raila loses allies as fast as he makes them; he underperformed as supervisor of government functions (putting politics above performance and service); and he presided over alleged scandals in his office. I will put the record straight.

When the writer accuses Raila of falling out with key allies one is given homework to find out when he parted ways with the likes of Gitobu Imanyara, James Orengo, Farah Maalim, Adhu Awiti, Anyang’ Nyong’o, Paul Muite, the late Peter Young Kihara and the late Martin Shikuku.

A casual look at the PM’s political history would reveal to anyone seeking the truth that these, and tens of others, have been Raila’s core allies in the struggle against one-party dictatorship and for a liberating constitution.

Like Raila, these people have never abandoned the cause — some like Shikuku and Kihara unto their graves.

The writer proffers the “trooping out” of members of the Pentagon as proof of Raila’s inability to keep allies. What he conveniently forgets to tell us is that the Pentagon was disbanded on November 8, 2008, not by Raila but by the ODM National Governing Council meeting in Naivasha.

The Pentagon was not an official party structure in the first place but an informal set-up by then ODM Presidential candidate to keep together his rivals — a clear sign that Raila intended his presidency to be inclusive and collegiate as opposed to personal rule Kenyans were accustomed to.

Self-confessed project

When the author says William Ruto “delivered the Kalenjin vote to ODM almost to a man”, he is peddling cheap propaganda. The truth is that Ruto followed the Kalenjin into ODM. However, like a good opportunist, he quickly ran to be ahead of the pack.

When Kipng’etich cites The Hague and the Mau Forest restoration as the straws that broke the camel’s back with regard to Ruto’s brief cohabitation with Raila, he inadvertently exposes the double-faced mien of his hero.

It is well documented where the PM and Ruto stood in the matter of whether PEV cases should be tried locally or at ICC and “Don’t be vague, go for The Hague!” has become a cliché in our political lexicon. Similarly the restoration of four water towers — Aberdares, Mau, Mt Kenya and Mt Elgon — is explicitly mentioned in the ODM 2007 Manifesto that Ruto was part of developing.

He also sat in the Cabinet that approved action on Mau and the parliament that adopted the Mau Task Force report. His turning around at implementation to score cheap political points against the PM shows a person who believes electoral promises are made to be broken.

The truth is that Ruto fell out with Raila even before the latter was sworn in as Prime Minister. Ruto tried in vain to be named the Deputy PM instead of Mudavadi and when this failed, he took on the PM for giving Kalenjins a raw deal in Cabinet appointments.

This was in spite of the fact that five Kalenjin MPs  (the highest ever since independence and comprising 25 per cent of the slots available to ODM) had been named to the Cabinet, and to such key dockets as Agriculture, Roads, Higher Education, Industrialisation and Youth and Sports.

Kipng’etich, as a political analyst, should be in the know as to why Najib Balala voted with his feet. On December 8, 2008 when ODM held a Special Delegates Conference at Bomas of Kenya, the meeting resolved that the post of National Organising Secretary should go to a person from the Coast.

When Coast delegates retreated, they came back with the name of Hassan Joho as their choice. Balala, who had lobbied hard for this position, was not amused.

With regard to the DPM Musalia Mudavadi, whom Kipng’etich avers “left it late and quit when Raila’s presidential campaigns were beginning to take shape,” the man himself has spoken and Kenyans have heard. I won’t belabour a self-confessed project.

On the so-called trooping out of ex-Pentagon members, what do pre-election or post-election coalitions mean? These last only until the next elections unless dissolved earlier. 

Charity Ngilu and her Narc party was in such pre-election arrangement with ODM. We are on the verge of the next elections and she is in order to shop for political partners for the next five years.

In her back and forth movement, she has made it clear with who she doesn’t want to be in the same political home. And about the PM as supervisor and co-ordinator of all ministries, he should have “given us an inkling of what he can do when he gets a bigger office.”

This is what the PM has done in ODM 2013-2017 Manifesto, where he has given Kenyans his and ODM’s scorecard. 

The writer is Country Director of SEATINI Kenya.

oongwen@gmail.com