Raila/CORD Aliiance launch 2013 Presidential bid with 10 point manifesto

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Ab-Titchaz

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Jan 30, 2008
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Raila to launch presidential bid next week.

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By Standard Reporter

KENYA: Prime Minister Raila Odinga is set to launch his presidential bid under the CORD Alliance on Wednesday, next week. This will, however, be preceded by a launch of the harmonised manifesto of CORD affiliate parties on Monday.

A dispatch from the Raila for President Secretariat also indicated that on the day of his presidential bid launch, the premier would officially hand in his nomination papers to the electoral commission.

The statement asked Kenyans to scrutinise the joint manifesto that brings together the aspirations of Wiper, Ford-Kenya, and ODM.

This comes as CORD has lined up a series of rallies in Rift Valley to woe supporters. The statement also said the premier has welcomed reports of presidential debates scheduled for February 11.

The second debate is slated for February 25.

"I welcome these television debates. I am really looking forward to engaging directly with my main opponent Uhuru Kenyatta and the other four aspirants," read the statement.

Raila said the debates would give Kenyans the opportunity to directly hear the issues the political parties and their candidates have lined up for them if elected.

"This will be a great opportunity for Kenyans to hear directly from the presidential candidates and determine who really has the ability, the experience, the vision, and policies that are required to change people's lives," it partly read.

Standard Digital News - Kenya : Raila to launch presidential bid next week


Dispatch:
The Raila Odinga Presidential Campaign Secretariat wishes to announce that the eagerly-awaited official launch of Prime Minister Raila Odinga's presidential candidature under the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD)ticket will be held on Wednesday, 30th January, 2013, at the Uhuru Park, Nairobi.

On the same day, prior to the launch, Mr Odinga accompanied by his running mate, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, and CORD principal, Minister Moses Wetangula and other coalition luminaries; is scheduled to hand in his nomination papers to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) at Anniversary Towers.

Monday, 28th January, 2013, will be another big day for CORD, when the coalition launches its harmonized manifesto. The ceremony is scheduled to be held at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) from 11.00am.

You are kindly invited to cover these landmark events.

DATED AT NAIROBI THIS FRIDAY THE 25TH DAY OF JANUARY, 2013.

ELIUD OWALO
CHIEF CAMPAIGN MANAGER AND HEAD OF THE RAILA ODINGA PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SECRETARIAT
TEL: 020 2712496/97/98
CELL: 0711 649 066/0733 766 204
EMAIL:eliudowalo@gmail.com​
 
I'm pretty sure the Kikuyu political mafia will do whatever it takes to stop a Luo from taking over when Kibaki is gone
 
VUVUZELA said:
I'm pretty sure the Kikuyu political mafia will do whatever it takes to stop a Luo from taking over when Kibaki is gone
Click to expand...
Safari hii hakuna cha Mt Kenya Mafia wala Mademon,njia ni kushuka mlimani kwenda ziwani
 
Mafiaso wa kiamba na meru this time wameshikwa pabaya.tatizo kijana wao hauziki,safiri hii atauza hadi viwanda vya maziwa,na ruto amepata buzi kweli kweli.
 
naskia kuna some strong delegation toka CORD inakuja kumuona Kikwete next week i will keep u guys updated...:becky:
 
The burden of being an Odinga

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By Oscar Obonyo
KENYA: Out of the drama generated by perhaps the country's most controversial party nominations, few events came close to the riveting gubernatorial contests involving Oburu Oginga in Siaya and Ruth Odinga in Kisumu counties.
It appeared everyone had an opinion about whether these siblings of Raila Odinga, the CORD presidential candidate, should get the tickets.

Not for the first time in Kenyan politics, the name Odinga was again dominating the political airwaves.

What followed, however, was new in every way. The sight of agitated voters chanting anti-Raila slogans amid claims of poll rigging in the Orange party primaries in Nyanza was a rare sight. So, too, was that of protestors threatening to decamp to rival Uhuru Kenyatta's coalition.

Speaking at length about these events for the first time, members of the Odinga family have spoken about how stunned they were by the public reaction, especially in their home region of Nyanza.

"I am unable to comprehend our people's rage," said Ruth in an interview this weekend. "I chose not to "to ride on my brother's fame by asking for a nomination slot. Instead I chose to fight it out on the ballot, giving residents of Kisumu chance to elect or reject me," Ruth told The Standard On Sunday. Even more stunned was Oburu, the Finance Assistant minister, who was subjected to hostility by voters apprehensive that he would be favoured at the ballot because of his filial connection to party leader and presidential candidate of the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy.

Indeed, some voters in the rural backyard of Raila did not even want to see the names of the PM's kin on the ballot. It was annoying enough they had offered themselves for possible election.

Regarding the controversial Siaya polls, Oburu maintained he won against challenger, William Oduol: "But I must admit he is smart.

Knowing too well how polarised the ground was, he wrong footed me by declaring himself winner. That was poisonous enough and it did not what any other poll official was going to announce."

Like the sister, Oburu is totally at a loss with regard to the hostility directed at him. Saying he has previously fought it out and been elected as MP, Oburu is irked by suggestions that he was riding on Raila's back.

"Biologically I am Raila's elder brother, and even in the understanding of African culture, it is not anything I would be willing do, including ruining my brother's presidential campaign, as suggested by some," he stressed.

To Oburu and Ruth, the violent protests rekindled sad memories of yesteryears when they suffered similar mistreatment and discrimination first at the hands of the British colonial government and later the Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi regimes, believably for being the Odingas. Hounded by the colonial Government, pursued and jailed by the successive Kenyatta and Moi governments and now being targeted by their own, the changing fortunes of the Odingas have remained true to the original script.

Their father, Kenya's first Vice- President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, enjoyed a fanatical in his home base. In spite of putting his life and career on the line through political agitation, including declining appointment as Prime Minister by colonial Government, his reward was persecution. His more politically active second born son, Raila, has over the years emerged to become a top presidential contender. He is not there, just yet, and his supporters maintain his victory was stolen in 2007.

Sent to jail

Although a lot has been told of Raila, including his struggle for political freedoms, that got him jailed for a decade, little is known about his siblings. Owing to his father's political activities, the Odinga children each paid a price.

Oburu, for instance, scored straight "A" grades in national primary examinations of 1960, but was denied admission at the prestigious Alliance High School because, "like his father, he would poison the student body"

These sentiments were made by colonial schoolmaster Carry Francis, a former principal of Maseno School and mentor of Jaramogi. The youthful Jaramogi was a favourite of Francis as a student at Maseno, because of his academic brilliance.

However, Francis was disturbed by the student's agitation for rights and advised him against joining politics, which he regarded as a wasteful dirty game.
Jaramogi initially heeded the advice, proceeding to Alliance High School and later to Makerere University in Uganda graduating with a diploma in Education.
Curiously, he was posted to his former Maseno School where he reunited with Francis. But soon, Jaramogi found the political bug irresistible and opted out of the noble profession. His mentor was furious.

This signalled the beginning of the painful struggles of the Odinga children. Oburu was the first casualty after passing the Kenya Preliminary Examination, the equivalent of today's Class Eight. But he failed to secure admission in his dream school, even as two former classmates whom he had outperformed were admitted to Alliance.

Political agitator

Reading politics in the exercise, Jaramogi, then a leading political agitator, stormed the school with his son and demanded to know the fate of Oburu. As fate would have it, Francis was the new principal here having been transferred from Maseno.

Mentor turned enemy conceded to having declined to admit the politician's son for fear that he would poison the minds of other students. Worse still, Francis had communicated the same to British principals of leading schools, dissuading them against touching the Odinga son.

"I remember my father banging the table in Francis's office and telling him that although he had a problem with him, the same anger should not be transferred to an innocent child. But the principal would hear none of it and my father stormed out of the office, vowing to teach the British a lesson," recalls Oburu.

Oburu was compelled to join a local school in the neighbourhood, Maranda High School, which had just been established. Dejected, he soon abandoned school.

Jaramogi quickly organised an overseas solution. Oburu's passport application was however rejected. On inquiry, then Governor, Sir Everlyn Baring, told Jaramogi the decision was made on security grounds.

A furious Jaramogi was so determined to ensure that Oburu got an education that he swore to Governor Baring that his son would travel out of the country no matter what.

Barring reportedly laughed sarcastically at the remark.

The two were set to attend the third phase of the famed constitutional and pre-independence Lancaster House talks in 1962 but Jaramogi set off the journey earlier than the rest of the Kenyan delegation, since he was attending a Panafrican Freedom Movement for Eastern and Southern Africa in Addis Ababa.

Jaramogi arrived at the airport late just when the plane was about to take off. Amid the excitement and confusion, Oburu was handed a Ghanaian passport and quickly boarded the Ethiopian Airlines flight as a member of his father's entourage.

Oburu was to learn that the arrangement was courtesy of his father's friend, Ghanaian President Kwame Nkurumah. But Oburu's celebration was short lived. Two days later, colonial authority discovered he had escaped from Kenya. The Governor immediately put a call through to Ethiopian emperor Haile Sellasie, asking him to arrest the 18-year-old boy and deport him back to Kenya.

Oburu was arrested in an ugly episode that unfolded right before his father and other African leaders in Ethiopia. Jaramogi protested demanding to talk to the monarch who backed down and the Odingas proceeded to London.

Here, the young Odinga spent lonely moments in his father's hotel room as business went on at Lancaster House. Oburu proceeded to Russia for secondary, undergraduate and postgraduate university studies.

Back home, the rest of the family enjoyed the sweet fruits of liberation, power and attention, following Jaramogi's appointment as Kenya's first VP. But the joy only lasted three years as Jaramogi differed with his boss, Kenyatta. By 1969, and only aged five years, Ruth, was already playing the role of aide cum messenger of his father, now a Kenya People's Union (KPU) party leader.

"I remember carrying Mzee's microphone to a rally in Ugunja as he popularised his new party. Even during the infamous Kisumu massacre during the opening of Russia Hospital by President Kenyatta, I was there with my father, and witnessed very terrifying scenes," recalls Ruth.

Frozen accounts

The worst was to follow when his father was detained. Jaramogi's bank accounts were frozen and his businesses shut. The Odingas were accordingly pushed out of school.

"I remember climbing a mango tree to pluck and sell the fruit in Milimani area to raise some money for fees. Later, when I excitedly announced my achievement to mum, she sadly remarked (the amount) was barely enough," says Ruth.

Oburu and Raila returned from overseas to find their father in detention: "We left him struggling and on return, he was in detention. Raila and I never enjoyed our father's vice-presidency," says Jaramogi's eldest son. The Odinga sons could not secure employment as there were rumours they had undertaken military and communist studies in Russia. And despite being among the few holders of a PhD in the 1970s, Oburu was couldn't get a good job in Government, largely because he was an Odinga. He ended up serving as councillor in Kisumu between 1974 and 1979.

Much later, former Finance minister, Francis Masakhalia, assisted him to secure employment as senior planning officer. Then Masakhalia was serving as Permanent Secretary in the ministry. The system was harsher on Oburu as compared to his younger brother Raila, because he was the elder son and intelligence agents believed he was the one being prepared to join his father in politics. Nobody gave Raila much thought because he was considered a harmless "technical person" having studied engineering and that is how he even got a job at University of Nairobi as lecturer and later as director at Kenya Bureau of Standards. Focus was more on the "dangerous" Oburu, the social scientist and economist.

A few years down the line, Raila would become the establishment's biggest headache, leading to his arrest and dismissal from KBS. Family instability quickly spread to Raila's homestead as his wife, Ida would also later be hounded out of her teaching job at Kenya High School.

Before Ida's predicament, Ruth became instrumental in delivering his father's political messages. It was a dangerous undertaking, which she carried out with the connivance of police officers guarding Jaramogi, who had been placed under house arrest. Another sister, Berryl, was equally preoccupied with assignments that were political in nature. In the heat of the moment, she had to abandon school and flee out of the country. Under instructions from Jaramogi, she left one morning as if to purchase something at a kiosk, but ended up in Zimbabwe with help from the father's friends.

While in detention, Jaramogi's business ventures and an effort to inject money into the business through a bank loan proved disastrous. Midway, through what the Odingas claim was politically sanctioned, the loan was recalled and the Odinga property attached, including the fleet of Lolwe buses, business premises, households and family cars.

Chained in all corners and denied of employment opportunities, the only avenue for the Odingas was to fight the system for political space. That is how the Odingas, more than most families, found politics to be their natural habitat.

Standard Digital News - Kenya : The burden of being an Odinga
 
Siblings' ambition imperils Raila's State House bid


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By PHILIP OCHIENG
Posted Saturday, January 26 2013 at 17:14

Like all liberal constitutions, Kenya's guarantees the right to participate in all electoral processes. There is no bar apart from age and certain conditions to do with crime. Moreover, "participatory democracy" is not just the vote. It also means freedom to stand for office.

In other words, no person can be barred from seeking office merely because he or she is related to a high-powered national statesman. To disqualify the children of Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel arap Moi, Mwai Kibaki, Moses Mudavadi - suchlike - on that account is to violate the constitutional rights of those individuals.

Thus, notwithstanding Raila Odinga's imperious national presence, Ruth Odinga and Oburu Oginga have the right to hold elective offices at all levels of the Republic. In the "game of politics", the only bar I am aware of that can override this law may be subsumed by the category of tactics and self-respect.

I give the example of the Odingas because that name has dominated political choice among my Luo people for many generations. I would have liked Peter Kenneth or James ole Kiyiapi as our next president. But I must add - even at the risk of being branded a tribalist - that, of the other candidates, Mr Odinga is my preference.

However, precisely because of it, I feel duty-bound to make the tactical point that it would terribly harm Mr Odinga's cause if so many siblings stood for important offices because - in a generation of heightened social consciousness - the Luo youth may interpret it as an attempt by Mr Odinga to intensify the Odinga family's traditional hold on that community.

In other words, vaulting sibling ambitions could boomerang on the ODM's presidential candidate. That is where self-respect comes in. Had Miss Odinga and the Assistant Finance Minister drummed up a sense of proportion (and expressed it humbly), they would not have jeopardised their own brother's bid. They would have held on to their gubernatorial ambitions till a time suitable to him.

Why? Because - away from Nyanza - the name "Odinga" is synonymous with the name "Luo" and thus inspires profound fear. If the two Odingas were aware of the violent ripples that the name "Luo" occasions in the national pond of politics, they would know that, by seeking offices as high as the governor's, they are greatly imperilling their own brother's chances of entering State House.

Misguided enthusiasm

Secondly, were you, the reader, caressed by the arrogance, high-handedness and misguided enthusiasm with which party officials handled Oburu Oginga's case? Did the grating contradictions between ODM secretary-general Peter Anyang' Nyong'o and electoral chief Franklin Bett endear you to the party and its candidate?

The outrage heard from all parts of "Luo Nyanza" about the botching up of the party's nomination process was not admirable, to say the least. It was verily reminiscent of the tragi-comedy characteristic of the hand-picking by Moi's officials during Kanu's autocracy. Many supporters of Raila Odinga feel betrayed, alienated and disenchanted.

But the Luo were not the only culprits. Despite attempts by certain media houses to depict the ODM and Luo Nyanza as the nigger-in-the-woodpile, the situation was not a lot better among the Kikuyu and the Kalenjin. Throughout Central Province and the Rift Valley, there was an equally hideous outcry about rigging.

After so many decades of childish politics - even after the mayhem of January, 2008 - our party leaders have not learned even a single lesson from the catastrophes that can engulf a nation whenever some of its officials try to make unfair gains by tampering with the agreed democratic method of latching onto leaders.

That is why I agree with the suggestion that, until we learn that lesson, we should put all electoral processes - including those of political parties - in the hands of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and transform it into a national political education college.

ochiengotani@ke.nationmedia.com

http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinio...use-bid/-/440808/1676094/-/12q80/-/index.html
 
Raila Odinga: The fulcrum of Kenyan politics

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By John Oywa

Prime Minister Raila Amollo Odinga is arguably the most talked about politician in Kenya today. His supporters follow him with a cultic commitment, giving him the solid backing often reflected in opinion polls.

Some observers agree he is one of the most controversial and influential politicians in Africa because of his long history of struggle for political power.

For close to two decades, Raila – a front-runner in the Kibaki succession race – has illuminated Kenya's political arena with slices of high drama as he pursues his childhood dream of ascending to the country's highest political office – the State House.

At 68, Raila is making his third and last stab at the presidency amid a chequered political career that has seen him weather tough political storms.

Old television footage showing him diving for cover under the tumbling tables during chaotic Ford- Kenya elections in 1996 at the Thika Stadium and stories of how he once dressed like a Catholic nun to escape arrest after the 1982 abortive coup, portray a man whose political past is enigmatic.

In one of his rarely told stories, Raila once gave a vivid description of how he used a battered, leaking boat to escape to Uganda through Lake Victoria with security agents in hot pursuit.

So sophisticated is Raila's political life that even some of his allies rarely understand him. In excerpts from Raila's autography –Raila Odinga: An Enigma in Kenyan Politics, former Gem MP Joe Donde describes Raila as a double-faced politician.

Double-faced

"Raila is a double-faced human being that is difficult to understand. As Wamalwa (Kijana) used to say, if you talk to Raila, you have to know what Amolo is thinking and yet it is the same person. Knowing Raila from the 1950s, it is safe to say that what he says is not what he does on the ground."

In the same book, Cabinet minister Dalmas Otieno is quoted as describing Raila as the best propagandist in Kenya. "No other person can match him. His communist training has helped him. He is able to create an expectation and make people feel it is real."

Most observers, however, agree that unlike his opponents in the presidential race, Raila wields a magic wand. He is a master of political satire and cuts the figure of a hardened war general, who has fought and won many political battles.
His stage antics, calculated flowery language, and the use of parables have endeared him to the masses.

People's person

"Raila has a rare gift of the garb. His versatility on stage, the use of proverbs, and deep understanding of the people's expectations has put him above the rest. He knows what his audiences want to hear," says Kisumu-based lawyer Cleveland Ayayo. He adds: "While other politicians bore their listeners with long, dry and winding speeches on what they want to do, Raila spices his speech with useful and exiting anecdotes. He sings and dances for his listeners."

In his native Nyanza, Raila is held in awe. His supporters who were astounded by his political maneuvers named him Agwambo (the mysterious one). They also call him Jakom (Chairman). He has recruited his wife Ida into his political high voltage club and is now often by his side in his campaigns.

His close and intricate network with elders – some of whom he inherited from his late father Kenya's first Vice-President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga – has helped him to consolidate his power.

Luo politicians, who have tried to resist his influence in the region, have themselves faded into oblivion. He has a well-knit private and official intelligence network, running deep into the villages that help him gauge the country's political temperature.

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Raila burst into the limelight in 1982 when he was arrested and detained for allegedly taking part in the abortive coup at around the same time his father Jaramogi was also put under house arrest.

He has been detained three times – in 1982, 1988, and in 1990.

This handed the Odinga family lots of sympathy from Kenyans who believe in change and reforms.

In 1992, he joined the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (Ford), which had been founded by his father. He held various positions in the party before it was split into Ford-Kenya and Ford-Asili.

He won the Langata parliamentary seat for the first time in the same year. But it was after his father's death in 1994 that he sharpened his political life as he fought for the control of the party his father founded.

He resigned from the party to start the National Development Party after failing to wrestle it from former Vice-President Kijana Wamalwa.

In 1997, he contested the presidency for the first time and finished third after retired President Moi and the then DP chairman Mwai Kibaki.

Raila later entered into co-operation with Kanu that led to the merger of the two parties and his subsequent appointment as Minister for Energy. But he later led a mass walk out of Kanu after the then President Moi picked Uhuru Kenyatta as his preferred successor in 2002. The team that included Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, Raila, and the late Internal Security Minister George Saitoti later regrouped to kick ruling party Kanu out of power.

The same team again walked out of the National Rainbow Coalition Government and formed the Orange Democratic Movement. He vied for president in 2007, but failed to oust President Kibaki in the controversial election that sparked widespread violence.

Odungi Randa, who lived with Raila from childhood, describes him as an intelligent man who draws his strength from consultations with his supporters.

"He is a go-getter who rarely gives up on a good fight," he says.

Standard Digital News - Kenya : Raila Odinga: The fulcrum of Kenyan politics
 
Ideology of the Odingas

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By Juma Kwayera

The Odinga family is synonymous with opposition politics, which has seen them isolated from the centre of power since independence. Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Kenya's first Vice-President, was shunned by the Kenyatta and Moi regimes for what they deemed Marxist ideology.

Oginga Odinga stumped for the state being in control of the means of production. It was an economic model socialist countries like the USSR, China and Cuba, with whom incidentally Odinga had strong links, that created the impression that he was a Marxist. Communist countries, which wanted to have a foothold in East Africa, supported Odinga's political activities before and independence, which had him marked in the West.

From his writings, this was more of a tactical approach to fighting enemies than an ideology. In his book, Not Yet Uhuru, he talks of a desire for economic empowerment of Africans through investments that yielded high returns.

"I was convinced that to start the battle against white domination, we had to assert our economic independence. We had had to show what we could do by our own effort we had had it drummed into us that the white had the brain to give orders and it was for Africans to carry them out. We had to show we are capable of enterprise and development in fields beyond our shambas (farms)."

It is against this backdrop that he formed the Luo Thrift and Trading Company, which had investments in transport, farming, milling and export businesses. His investments were spread all over East Africa. To a man who pursued socialism, this was a contradiction.

Strong beliefs

However, what is not in doubt was his unswerving belief that all communities and regions in Kenya were entitled to equitable access to national resources. Such strong beliefs put him at loggerheads with Kenyatta, precipitating the 1969 riots in Kisumu during the president's tour of Nyanza. Odinga had publicly criticised Kenyatta for neglecting the rest of the country, except Central Kenya.

Thereafter, Oginga Odinga spent stints in detention and under house arrest for embracing views the government of the day perceived to be treasonous, hence the communist tag.

The marginalisation of Odinga only helped to reinforce the herd mentality among his community and even after Daniel Moi succeeded Kenyatta, there was no respite for the man the media loves to describe as the doyen of opposition politics.

As Odinga marginalisation persisted, Raila arrived on the political scene. His university education in East Germany, the a communist state imbued him with radical Marxist principles that would later earn him the tag of a political activist who spent the longest time in detention for his revolutionary ideals.

With the benefit of hindsight, it has never been clear whether Raila was really a communist or such a tag was inspired by fear.

Radical views

He has never quite advocated for the overthrow of the government by the poor. Of course as any student of politics, he acquainted himself with writings of the ideologies of Karl Marx, Max Angeles, Josip Lenin and former Cuban president Fidel Castro, after whom he named his first-born son.

The height of Raila's radical views was in 1982 when he took part in the planning of a military coup to oust Moi from power.

Over time and with the re-introduction political pluralism, Raila's hard-line politics has mellowed and has been keen to shed the communist tag. Raila has had to explain himself as an advocate of free enterprise, the same view held by his father whom successive regimes in Kenya portrayed as a Marxist ideologue, and Raila a hew of the old wood.

The different positions Raila held on politics paint him as a socialist, republican, liberal democrat – virtually anything, but a capitalist. In the end, one can safely say Raila only wanted a platform to make a contribution to national politics, which included a reconstruction of the constitution.

It is the confrontational approach to change that cast him as communist. Interviewed on KTN in 2002 about his economic vision of Kenya, he said: "It is not a crime to be wealthy. We should encourage that under free enterprise system, the problem arises when people use office to accumulate."

Standard Digital News - Kenya : Ideology of the Odingas
 
What makes ‘Tinga' tick?

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Updated Sunday, January 27 2013 at 00:00 GMT+3

By Mwenda Njoka

If there is one characteristic that the CORD presidential aspirant Raila Odinga has distinguished himself with, then that trait must be the man's indefatigable capacity and resilience.

To friends and foes, Raila is one politician who seems to have inexhaustible quantity of political energy, something that comes in extremely handy in an election year.

In his book, The Rogue Ambassador, the late US ambassador to Kenya, Smith Hempstone describes Raila as "a tough, robust politician used to living in rough conditions" by dint of his many years in prison as a political detainee.

Another feature that distinguishes Raila from many of his political competitors is his ability to excite (and his critics will say incite) crowds to a level of fanaticism.

It is perhaps for this reason that the former Vice-President, the late Michael Wamalwa Kijana once described Raila as a political hated and loved in equal measures leading to what the then VP aptly described as "Railamania" (among his supporters and fans) and Railaphobia (to his critics and political enemies).

Over the years and by virtue of being the most-detained politician in Kenya (he has had three stints in detention), Raila has cut the image of a ‘people's champion', and this is something that has worked well for him building him a significant bedrock of support among the so-called downtrodden.

In a discussion sometimes back with Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi, who in the past worked closely with Raila Odinga during the struggle for the Second Liberation of Kenya in 1990s, Kiraitu had this to say about: "I have worked closely with Raila and I know the man is extremely tenacious when it comes to pushing his agenda. He has unlimited capacity when it comes to political campaigning."

Not one to under-estimate

This description of Raila's capacity and abilities is echoed by a well-connected city wheeler-dealer who too has operated closely with Raila although the two appear to have since parted ways. His description of Raila's character: "you should never under-estimate Raila. The man is lethal and performs at his best when he finds himself in a tight corner."

Back to Smith Hempstone's book, the Rogue Ambassador that captures the period he served as US envoy in Kenya at the height of the struggle for political pluralism, the late ambassador recalls a time he had to advice the then US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Herman Cohen how to deal with Kenya ahead of the 1992 general elections.

The former ambassador writes: "I cabled Cohen telling him ‘I am not sure you have taken into account the depth and breadth of the opposition politics in Kenya. A man such as Raila Odinga will tell you he did not spend over decade in Moi's prisons to come and provide window dressing for yet another rigged election. Raila and others are convinced that a flawed voter registration will lead to skewed election..." Hempstone book aptly captures the rebellious streak in Raila's political DNA, which makes the man a fearsome opponent.

Penchant for Machiavellian style

Raila is reputed to be an overly calculating and tactical politician with a penchant for Machiavellian style of politics where the ends justify the means.
To his critics, Raila's alleged involvement in the 1982 failed coup attempt against the government of President Moi is strong evidence of this Machiavellian streak in the CORD presidential aspirant.

It was after the failed coup that President Moi detained Raila for six years years only to be released and detained once more. His last stint in detention lasted until 1991 when Moi had him released because it had become politically untenable to continue holding political detainees due the then changed world politics following the fall of communism.

Raila's calculating political nature and ability to turn a misfortune into a political fortune came in 2002 when he merged his then political party National Development Party (NDP) with Kanu only to emerge out of the merger with much more than he had gone in with.

At the time it was apparent that the primary motivation for Raila to make an alliance with a political party and a President he, Raila, had spent almost all his adult life trying to dislodge from power was the hope that teaming up with a retiring Moi may provide him (Raila) with a golden fulcrum on which to climb to power. When Raila realised that Moi had other intentions, and not to have him (Raila) inherit power, he quickly jumped ship, leaving the ruling Kanu much weaker than he had found it.

It is this single act of walking out of the Kanu that emboldened former party stalwarts such as the late George Saitoti, Moody Awori, Kalonzo Musyoka to also quit the then ruling party mortally injuring a party that everyone had assumed was too powerful and strong to lose a general election.

Raila had joined Kanu with a personal agenda to use the party to inherit power from Moi. When he realised this was not going to work, Raila moved swiftly and paid Moi back in kind.

Raila teamed up with Mwai Kibaki and helped him win the presidency in the 2002 general election. When he joined Kibaki in 2002, Raila must have known that the incoming leader would provide a weakened presidency – both physically and figuratively. With such a presidency, Raila then would have been in a position to be the real power behind the throne. But things did not happen this way and Raila found himself shunted from the centre of power. From that point he started plotting how to dislodge President Kibaki because he was convinced Kibaki had short-changed him. The bitter seeds of 2007 General Election were planted at this point.

By and large, what emerges when looks closely at Raila's character is a resilient politician who never die. That is the essence that makes Tinga tick.


Standard Digital News - Kenya : What makes ?Tinga? tick??
 
Mkuu this is far-fetched; Nelson mandela was detained and became one of the most acclaimed anti-apartheid icon to date. He did not struggle mobilizing his xhosa natives in running street battles and violent protests and making south Africa ungovernable. But a mere noble "handshake" by the reformist and activist in 1994 is the glue that holds south africa today! Mr Mandela's deed was a gift to the continent of Africa and not to SA and that is the mirror reformers of today ought to identify with.

..usimpe hadhi ya simba fisi lol!....

kumalizia

Julius malema has of late tried to revive the "violence" wing of the ANC the "umkhonto-we-sizwe"; but inspired..inspired leaders and visionary nationalists like jacob zuma have made sure sanity prevailed within the ANC, expelling the violent youth leader!

is it a surprise in SADC that sSouth AFRICA is the only country that is prosperous on several fronts economic social political you name it. Other nations within SADC have latched on to holden roberto's doctrine and the difference is noticeable.
 
Kile kinambwaga Raila ni wanaomzingira viongozi kama gem MP and kisumu town MPWapiga kura walikuwa wameweka kauli ya kuchgua viongozi wengine kuwahondoa wale wanaompotosha Raila sehemu za kisumu Siaya na kendu bay, lakini walijilazimisha washindi kichwa kichwa mbele ya IEBC kwa kukataa kusalimu kwa chagua la wananchi.

Yule James Orengo na Otieno Okanja wasidhani wamejinusru. Ukitizama Oburu Odinga asili yake no bondo, ingawa yawezekana amenyakua ardhi kule siaya! atajilazimisha kwa wakaazi wa siaya kuwa governer! hapo hamna demokraisa
 
Cord pledges better times as it unveils 10-point plan

Cord+px.jpg


By ISAAC ONGIRI iongiri@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Tuesday, January 29 2013 at 00:30

In Summary

  • Odinga promises to jump-start economy, create jobs and share resources equitably
Cord presidential candidate Raila Odinga on Monday unveiled a 10-point campaign manifesto largely focusing on job creation, poverty reduction and equal distribution of resources if elected head of State.

Speaking during the launch at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Mr Odinga pledged to jump-start the economy and create opportunities for idle manpower.

"We produce about 800,000 new members of the working-age population per year, but because we create only 50,000 modern sector jobs, barely six per cent of them can find jobs," he said.

Unlike in 2007 when infrastructure topped his agenda, Mr Odinga said that dream was now being implemented and the legacy of the outgoing government would be continued.

Explaining how he would honour his promises, Mr Odinga said Cord would target manufacturing, mining and construction to generate the revenue to fund government plans. He also pledged to introduce free secondary school for all. He ask Kenyans to evaluate his government's progress 100 days after taking power.

Mr Odinga said the current public service structure obstructed implementation of government programmes and promised to change it radically.

"A radical transformation of the service is the only way to ensure the government serves the people. This will be one of my priorities in the first 100 days in State House," he said.

Mr Odinga's co-principals in the alliance, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka and Trade minister Moses Wetang'ula, also addressed the event attended by more than 6,000 people. The three promised to eradicate negative ethnicity.

They also listed food and national security and implementation of the Constitution as issues they would tackle religiously.

The leaders talked of plans to train more doctors and nurses, initiate robust and acceptable universal medical care, employment of early childhood education teachers and the equitable distribution of State jobs.

"I want to pledge here today that secondary school education will be free under the Cord government," Mr Musyoka said. He said constitutional provisions on land issues would be implemented, but the sanctity of the title deed would be paramount.

The VP said the new government would strive to create one nation where ethnic balkanisation was a thing of the past.

"Kenyans, if you exclude yourself, you will only have yourself to blame," Mr Musyoka said.

Earlier, Mr Wetang'ula highlighted the Cord government's foreign relations policy plans.

"We will have a robust foreign policy that will ensure a central role in regional and international integration and jobs would be shared among all communities where possible," said the former Foreign Affairs minister.

He dismissed as propaganda claims that Mr Odinga's government would abolish the provincial administration

All 13 Cord partner parties were represented at the event attended by nominated candidates for various seats.

On Wednesday, the PM is expected to officially launch his campaign at a rally in Uhuru Park after presenting his nomination papers to the electoral commission in the morning.

Cord pledges better times as it unveils 10-point plan - CAMPAIGN NEWS - elections.nation.co.ke
 
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