Ineffective advice and poor handling of his campaign lost Prime Minister Raila Odinga the presidential vote. Raila has refused to recognise Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory and has since gone to court to challenge his election as the forth president of Kenya.
Despite the challenge by Raila, which is to be heard by the Supreme Court, Uhuru and William Ruto are already discharging their duties as president and deputy president-elect .
They are receiving national security briefings, meeting and receiving messages of goodwill from ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions; are already enjoying the trappings of power even before they have taken oath!
Compared to UhuRuto's Jubilee Alliance, Raila's Cord did not conduct its campaign vigorously enough or seriously. Cord took to sniping and rehashing the implications of the indictment of Uhuru and Ruto by the International Criminal Court, hoping this would turn the Kenyan voter against the two.
Cord was banking on Kenyans not voting for the two ICC suspects fearing the 'consequences' that many Western diplomats were at pains to warn about.
The rain started beating Odinga immediately after he became the Prime Minister in the Kofi Annan negotiated Grand Coalition government in 2008.
From there on, the situation has been downhill all the way, until sometime last year when most members of his 'Pentagon' team deserted him to join or form other political outfits.
According to many of his former close allies, Raila became a different man after he became the PM. Meeting him became a nightmare for many of his close friends.
He seemed to have lost his knack and surrounded himself with handlers and advisors who cared less about the future than their personal development.
According to the late Internal Security assistant minister Orwa Ojode, and Information and Communication assistant minister George Khaniri, Raila became a different person after he became PM.
He abandoned his true friends and compatriots in the struggle and surrounded himself with neophytes; replaced able critics with political failures who could not even sell their agenda in their respective constituencies or counties, let alone campaign for his election as president.
Raila, it seems, allowed some of his close allies and advisers like Medical Services minister Anyang' Nyong'o, and many others, to isolate some of his lieutenants in the Pentagon, forcing them to abandon ship.
Lawyer and author Miguna Miguna, Raila's legal and constitutional advisor, was one such casualty who was sacked for writing an opinion questioning the integrity and capability of Issack Hassan, the IEBC chairman.
It is ironical that the Raila is now blaming Hassan and the commission for its ineffectiveness in handling the recent presidential elections.
Those in charge of Cord campaigns also failed to be sensitive to matters that were being raised and only responded to such issues in a combative and negative style.
They ignored political scientist Mutahi Ngunyi's tyranny of numbers which he predicted that the Jubilee coalition was poised to win the elections because of the many supporters they are enjoying from the massive registration of people in their strongholds.
It seemed none of the strategist in the Cord campaign were ready to listen and interrogate Ngunyi’s claims. Instead, most of them reacted by passing blame or name calling. Presidential results released by IEBC at the end of the tallying vindicated Ngunyi's predictions.
President-elect Uhuru Kenya and Ruto should learn from Cord when choosing their advisors. They should learn something from Raila’s predicament and surround themselves with intelligent and wise men and women whose reasoning capacities go beyond tribe, power and personal gains.
Raila’s political career is in limbo as the petition he has filed goes through the court process. People – especially his hardcore followers in his Nyanza stronghold – should start reviewing their options and maybe look for another younger, less abrasive and aggressive leader to succeed him.
A politician's epitaph is never written in two weeks. Indeed, five years is a long time in politics. However, even with the petition he has filed, Raila's lose is a wake-up call to all his supporters all over the country that the time has come to identify and groom other young leaders in the party.
Denise Kodhe is the executive director of the Institute for Democracy & Leadership in Africa- IDEA
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