Supreme Court did not test my evidence, says Raila

By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU ashiundu@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Wednesday, July 17  2013 at  13:19

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Tuesday night shared his views on the Supreme Court’s ruling on his election case; the government’s handling of the on-going teachers’ strike; and what he makes of the government’s commitment in the roll-out of devolved units.

In a nutshell, Mr Odinga said the Supreme Court never tested the evidence before it, but dismissed his petition on the election of Uhuru Kenyatta on a technicality.

On teachers, he said, if he were in power, the tutors would be smiling all the way to the bank, by now. And he also said, the government’s push to retain the provincial administration was “undermining” devolution.

In a lengthy interview with NTV, Mr Odinga also repeated his call to have the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission “overhauled”.

He said the Coalition for Reform and Democracy will come up with a roadmap to “reform” the IEBC and ensure the flaws witnessed in the last elections are never repeated in future polls.

“There are a lot of issues with this commission, that’s the reason why I said, since the introduction of multiparty politics, this is the most disgraceful commission we’ve had,” said Mr Odinga.

Mr Odinga, also the leader of Cord, noted that if the IEBC is not reformed, and the confidence of Kenyans in the commission keeps going down, then voter apathy in future elections will be inevitable.

A100 days is a short time

But he still had kind words for the three-month old government as they mark 100 days in power.

“Don’t judge them harshly. A hundred days is a very short time within which to measure the performance of a government. I have been in government and I know what governing means to a country. They will be judged by what they promised the people,” said Mr Odinga.

The Cord leader's view of the teachers’ strike is what was striking. He said the teachers had valid expectations, because, the coalition government of Mr Odinga and former President Kibaki had promised them that the money will be included in the budget of the current fiscal year.

What would he have done if he was President?

"I’d have handled it differently. I’d have sat down with them. I’d have negotiated a way out of it. This budget is not fairly balanced. There are areas where savings could be effected to make up the gaps that the teachers are demanding.

"I know areas where we have put a lot of money which is not necessary. I’d have handled it differently and teachers would have been happier,” said Mr Odinga.

He poured cold water on the laptop for Standard One children project, saying, it ought to be implemented in phases, and only after there is a thorough cost-analysis, plus adequate infrastructure to keep the project running to the end.

Still, Mr Odinga appeared disappointed with the National Assembly and the vetting process of State officers.

“We’re seeing sycophancy to the extent that nobody actually expected and this was not expected in a democracy.”