Three things we learnt from ‘Raila show’ in Parliament

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By OTIENO OTIENO (jkotieno@ke.nationmedia.com)
Posted  Saturday, November 5  2011 at  20:00

Raila is still the elephant of Kenyan politics

My Luo people have this common saying:Liech ikuodho koloko ng’eye (The elephant is spoken ill of behind its back).

In the build-up to the Prime Minister’s statement in Parliament over an alleged scandal in his office involving the Kazi Kwa Vijana programme, his opponents in the G-7 alliance had hyped this as the moment they were to bring him down.

But as it happens every so often, Mr Odinga’s major rivals prefer taking on him from the safety of funerals and public rallies to an eyeball-to-eyeball showdown on the floor of the House.

Even the PM should have found it underwhelming that this huge task was placed on the tender shoulders of Eugene Wamalwa.

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Eugene Wamalwa needs to build some muscle

The Saboti MP likes to see himself as a David coming up against Goliaths in his expected presidential bid in 2012. Given the size of the target on Wednesday, there couldn’t have been a better chance for him to display his giant-killing instincts.

All the young Wamalwa needed to do on this occasion was to man up, have a good grip of the sling, take aim and let fly.

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But apart from one rehearsed delivery of the “Kazi Kwa Vijana, Pesa Kwa Wazee” slogan, he put up a wobbly performance overall and allowed the likes of Mr Ababu Namwamba and Mr James Orengo to easily outmuscle him off the floor.

Once again, the reasons just about every political project developer in town — from Jimmy Kibaki’s Simama Kenya to Michael Ranneberger’s youth-for-change movement — has picked Mr Wamalwa and suddenly dropped him like a hot potato came to the fore for all to see.

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We are stuck with this collusion government

By all accounts, the PM appeared to get off lightly with a statement heavy on semantics and light on facts. “Ineligible expenditure” must be the easiest words available to explain away corruption allegations.

But if you believed that the G-7 alliance was actually serious about putting the PM’s office to task on a day media reports indicated that the Treasury had refunded donors some money arising from their own version of “ineligible expenditure” in the free primary education scandal, you have to be the only stranger in Jerusalem.

Ours is a collusion government after all.