In Uhuru, Raila Tour of Central Is Long Overdue, my column this weekend in the Star, I make the case why and say, in part, this because “the absence of aggressive marketing of Raila in the region has left a vacuum Deputy President William Ruto has comfortably occupied and taken advantage to make even bigger inroads in the region, which may be too late to undo.” I added that “aggressive marketing of Raila has been particularly desirable not just because many in the region hate the man, but, unfortunately, some of that hatred is thanks to Uhuru, who stamped it to deny Raila votes in 2013 and 2017.”
I then went on to conclude as follows:
Marketing Raila in Central will not be an easy task, especially coming too late.
However, the good news is that Raila need only carry half of the votes in the region and that is realistic, especially if Uhuru endorses him as he is expected to.
Ruto may have exploited Raila’s hatred in the region and combined that with his populist messaging which has resonated for many, but Uhuru and Raila need to bring forth their best in giving people hope and optimism that better days lie ahead with a Raila presidency—and that, no, he is not the devil but the good man he is.
Going by comments I have perused in where the column appears, most of those who have commented either have missed the point I was making in the column or they got it but have pretended it is not the point.
One of them going by the handle “scanfish” in his Star comment went on to regurgitate old, stale lies and smears used against Raila and nearly all I and others have proven a million times over they are false but these people still believe and continue to peddle these lies and smears.
In responding to this ill-informed and obviously classic Raila hater, I said as follows:
You are just confirming my point and that is, there is deep seated hatred of Raila in Central, some fanned by Uhuru himself though the handshake has erased much of that animus then existing between the two men. The people who the hatred remains fresh and likely never will be erased are people like you but the good news here is Raila does not need Central as a block to win the presidency but Ruto does. The margins Raila needs he can get on his own but, if Uhuru throws his weight, money and the system behind him, get ready to hear these words: His Excellency Raila Amolo Odinga.
That said, here’s a musing in my memoirs work in progress you’ve just reminded me that some snippets of it are in my 1 million words plus blog at Omwenga.com:
In the lead up to the 2007 elections, I was at InterCon meeting with two separate individuals for unrelated matters. When I finished my first meeting that was at far end of the lobby next to the bar, I walked over to the open area restaurant and bar in the back to wait for someone else I was meeting next.
As I was sitting there minding my business, a very influential Jomo Kenyatta era now old man few would recognize walked by and having made eye contact, I got up to say a hello to him, we exchanged a few pleasantries, and he went his way. Just as I sat down, another fellow I did not know came from a table he was sitting nearby and introduced himself as so and so.
He was curious about what I do and how I know the old man I had just talked to. They were intrusive questions but he gave the proper foundation and having detected any mischief about it, I told him I am a US based lawyer and know the old man from years before when he was active in politics.
This new friend only identified himself by his first name but I could tell by his heavy accent where he was from, question was, who was he and why had he taken this interest in yours truly.
The answer would come in due time because the conversation went from being total strangers to the man inviting me to his home for dinner to discuss a business he had in mind and had been trying to find a US based lawyer to help him with the matter.
I told him dinner would be fine except I would have to come with my business associate I was waiting to meet as we had plans for that evening. He said fine and went back to his table, and shortly thereafter my friend arrived. I briefed him what just transpired and when I pointed to who the man was, he was surprised I did not know him; turns out he is one of the local tycoons.
We had agreed that I will let him know when am ready for us to leave so, when I finished meeting with my friend, I asked him if he could accompany me to my now new friend’s home for dinner.
My friend said that would not be necessary as the man would probably want the privacy to discuss his business affairs with me alone and, more importantly, there was nothing to be of any concern in terms of safety and security.
With that, I told the man I am ready and we can leave whenever he was ready. In no time, he dismissed the meeting he was having with others at his table and got up, beckoned for me to come and off we left.
He was driving himself but there was another vehicle following us and I heard and saw him give them instructions to just follow us and they did.
On the way—and this is the point of this musing, the impending elections came up and in the distance between InterCon and the man’s expansive home not too far away, the man unloaded a tsunami of unprintable insults describing Raila; he had NO idea this was my friend he was talking about and—even more alarming, I was home then actively involved in his campaign and trying to have him elected as president!
I had a dilemma; do I disclose this fact or just pretend and play along for what it is worth? I decided on the latter but only making sure I would not repeat any of the insults but simply do the perfunctory nodding and “ah haaa, a haaa” etc.
It was about not a long ride, but it looked like eternity, but we finally pulled up to the man’s expansive home. We did not go inside as he had us sit outside at his well taken care of garden with clearly a well-designed entertainment area. At the end of it, there was a large screen TV on with no sound as we sat there and embarked on our business discussion—and thank God not politics anymore.
Well, long enough until whatever was playing stopped as there was live update on the elections featuring a Press Conference by none other than Raila Odinga! When my new friend saw this, he quickly switched back to his venom filled description of Raila: “look at this yahudi!” He exclaimed, adding a bunch of other stuff—mostly hate filled lies I have heard and debunked or proven false in my thousands of blogs and forum posts defending Raila but I made a deliberate decision not to counter the man at all about any of this.
Fortunately, he was so animated in his breathless spewing of hatred against Raila he completely missed to see that I was, in fact, at the presser and was shown several times during the clip the media house played!
It was a blessing for I have no idea what the man would have done had he seen and discovered he had in his home a friend and defender of someone he deemed to be the devil himself!
As it were, we resumed the meeting, had dinner, and were joined by several of his other guests he told me were coming. I had already arranged and my own regular driver and someone who is always with us to be and they were in the compound . I excused myself and told my new friend I will get back to him regarding the matter and off we left.
More in my memoirs.
Current Affairs in Kenya 