RAILA AND CURSE OF OPPOSITION IN KENYA.
There is this one country in the world where no matter how people vote, they will never have an opposition leader.
This literally means that the cries and pleas of the minority will have no one to articulate them to the ruling government.
That country is..... Oooh, did I just hear you say Kenya ?
That's right, the country is Kenya. Since gaining independence in 1963 , the country has never had a serious opposition despite having strong "opposition leaders" over the years. We can only have notable mentions like the Late Martin Shikuku and Keneth Matiba.
It's either because of the totalitarian regime or to others reasons only known to the leaders.
The constitution spells out clearly that after the general election, the runners up of the presidential seat shall form the opposition which then will help citizens in keeping the government in check.
This has never been the case here.
The only time we can feel like the opposition is doing their job is only when they refute the presidential result.
Now, for example in 2007, ''the party that won" the elections , Orange Democratic Movement formed the opposition while the "person that won'' the presidential elections became the president.
After many deliberations by the international community, we had a coalition government where a new post, Prime Minister was introduced so that each faction could have the feel of power.
From that moment, opposition ceased and punitive bills were passed in the parliament without considering the opinions of the common mwananchi.
In 2017, we had a repeat of the same and half of the people who were in the rulling party found themselves in opposition while those who were in opposition were now in government led by Kenya's professor of Politics Raila Odinga.
Fomer President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga.
This period, we had a lot of corruption scandals and economy became unbearable to the common citizens.
Opposition was dead asleep.
In 2022, after the election, Raila showed Ruto who powerful he was by competing with our calendar in assignment of "holidays" without consulting with the government.
He also made it clear to Ruto that "anajua panya roots za Nairobi" better than the police force.
The police would guard his Karen Home only for him to be seen in Mathare. At the same time his followers would engage the police officers in combat and hit and run.
This led to mass destruction of properties and infrastructure.
After concerns about the conduct of both the police and protesters by the international communities, Ruto decided to have a seat with his former boss.
At the same time, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua had already "set traps" at State House, in that whenever Raila was within 5 kilometer radius, he will be "alerted " by his mitego.
He forgot what Fumo Liyongo said in 1509 " mtego wa panya hushiko waliomo na wasiokuwepo" if my Swahili is correct.
Now , Raila has managed to dismantle the traps, and now it's the same Gachagua who cannot be allowed to be near the vicinity.
Back to the topic on opposition, Raila now has the support of the government in contesting for the Africa Union seat. This has made him focus on the "bigger picture" thus neglecting Kenyans who now need him more than ever since the Finance Bill has been seen by the people as punitive.
My guess is that he will not win the AUC seat because of the Djibouti Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf is in the race and this will attract international powers simply because Djibouti is a home for 8 military bases for different powers including UK, USA and Germany.
This means that if he loses, the chances of him being a presidential candidate in 2027 are high.
Anyway, the constant "K" in all of this that whenever Raila introduces anything to do with "reports" eg BBI or NADCO , just know you are on your own and that OPPOSITION IS DEAD.
When will we ever have a dedicated opposition like the one in South Africa ?
ReplyForward |
Comments
Post a Comment