Mkutano wa Raila Odinga mjini Mombasa

By LUCAS BARASA
Posted Sunday, December 6 2009 at 13:30

The Orange Democratic Movement on Sunday afternoon held a public rally at Mombasa's Tononoka grounds, the backyard of Tourism minister Najib Balala.

Prior to the Tononoka rally, Mr Odinga held a breakfast meeting with ODM MPs and other Coast leaders who are crucial in campaigning for him at the grassroots.

Apart from Kisauni MP Ali Hassan Joho who played a crucial role in organising Mr Odinga’s three days visit at the Coast, others present were Cabinet minister Amason Kingi, Ramadhan Kajembe and Calist Mwatela.

Others were Gideon Mungaro (Malindi MP), Thomas Mwadeghu (Wundanyi) and Omar Zonga.

On Saturday evening Mr Odinga paraded the Coast MPs and Mombasa Mayor Ahmed Mohdhar as his point men in the province as he fights to consolidate his support in the region.

ODM garnered 13 out 21 parliamentary seats in Coast Province in the last general election and the pro-Raila MPs said the party could have scooped all the seats if it were not for Mr Balala.

The leaders accused Mr Balala of playing divisive politics, being a poor grassroots mobiliser and a lone ranger.

Following the Balala-Raila fall out, Mr Joho who enjoys a huge network at the grassroots, is now being seen as Mr Odinga’s pointman in the region.​

By LUCAS BARASA and HASSAN HUKA
Posted Monday, December 7 2009 at 22:00

Agriculture minister William Ruto on Monday dismissed a highly successful rally in Mombasa by Prime Minister Raila Odinga.In brief remarks on Monday, Mr Ruto said Kenyans were wise enough to see beyond the crowds.

"People can have as many rallies as they find time for. We have seen and participated in such rallies and we know what comes out of them. The people of Kenya are wiser now," he said.

The Prime Minister led 15 Cabinet ministers and more than 60 MPs to the rally, attended by thousands of party supporters, in what was seen as show of political might.Mr Ruto's allies, however, said they were not moved by big rallies, saying they do not translate to votes.

Cherangany MP Joshua Kutuny, a vocal ally of Mr Ruto, said: "Even Raila organised such (huge) meetings in the last election but still lost to (President) Kibaki."

He also claimed that Cabinet ministers Franklin Bett, Henry Kosgey and Sally Kosgei, who accompanied Mr Odinga to the Tononoka rally, had lost ground in the Rift Valley and were likely to be voted out in 2012.

"Walking around with people like Sally, Bett and Kosgey does not mean much because they will lose their seats anyway," Mr Kutuny said.

On Monday, MPs allied to Mr Odinga said they had crafted a plan to fight dissenting Orange MPs and clip their political influence.

Part of the plan is a series of countrywide rallies and recruitment of like-minded MPs to back the PM and contain Mr Ruto and his fellow dissenters whom they see as a threat to ODM popularity.

Even though the ODM team retreated to the Coast at the weekend to find a common ground on the draft Constitution and address a rally at Tononoka, it has emerged that closed-door meetings were held to agree on a script that would be used to fight Mr Ruto and Tourism minister Najib Balala.

Bits of the strategy, the MPs said, came out during the Tononoka rally when Cabinet ministers Anyang' Nyong'o and Fred Gumo spoke of the difference between democrats and opportunists, and former Youth for Kanu 92 officials who could not be trusted.

Said Prof Nyong'o, the ODM secretary general: "We should differentiate between democrats and opportunists. Those in YK 92 started their politics for cash."

Mr Gumo, the Regional Development Authorities minister, also threw a salvo at the former YK92 leaders, whom he accused of contributing to increased inflation due to mass printing of currency "until (retired President Daniel arap) Moi dumped them."

Lands minister James Orengo said the battle in ODM was between those who fought for liberation in the early 1990s and the those who were on Mr Moi's side.

"It is such things that made Ford (pioneer multi-party political grouping) break. It's a fight between those who wanted to liberate Kenya and those who spoiled it," he told the rally.

The three ministers, close allies of Mr Odinga, were hinting at the decision by Mr Ruto to bring on board Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo during his rallies at the weekend when he skipped the Tononoka meeting.

YK 92 was a lobby group formed by supporters of Mr Moi in 1992 to fight off the Ford wave after Section 2A was repealed to allow multi-party politics. Mr Jirongo was its chairman and Mr Ruto an official.

MPs who attended the meeting, but said they cannot be named because they did not have authority to speak for the party, said Mr Ruto was being seen as the "biggest headache" in the party.

"The rest can be dealt with very easily. Members were however happy that intelligence showed Mr Odinga's and ODM's popularity was growing faster in Central and Eastern provinces than other places," one MP said.

ODM organising secretary Ali Hassan Joho said the party will be moving to the South Rift in the beginning of the year, "before going to North Eastern Province and then the rest of Kenya."

During the Tononoka rally, Mr Odinga had said: "Raila Odinga can never be cowed. ODM is still strong".

He also hinted at recruiting more leaders from PNU and mentioned assistant ministers Peter Kenneth and Kilemi Mwiria.

Mr Balala was in Isiolo on Monday to seek the support of his Cabinet colleagues. He led ministers Mohamed Kuti (Livestock Development) and Yussuf Hajji (Defence) to criticise the PM for isolating him.

"We as Muslim leaders in government will defend each other when any one of us is fought by any forces and we have no political borders, we are one entity," Mr Hajji said.

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/-/1064/819110/-/item/0/-/f9xxpfz/-/index.html
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