By Geoffrey Wainaina
Raila Odinga is no fool!. He’s a man on a calculated mission. So far the cards are looking good. The game is getting played according to script. He’s been here before.
In 2001 Retired President Daniel T. Arap Moi appeared to struggle on who was to succeed him. When he looked at Saitoti he knew that though he was a loyal friend he was not cut for it. There were other public suggestions, people who appeated very close to moi, but Mzee remained tight lipped on who his preferred candidate was.. Raila Odinga quickly saw the struggle as an opportunity. He Jumped into KANU. The tractor was swallowed by the Jogoo. There was no one more loyal to Mzee moi than Raila. But he did not get into KANU to sanitize it’s 24 years of graft, misrule and tyranny. He got in to ensure that if he did not get his way, KANU would face the greatest humiliating defeat ever.
The opposition then was headed by Mwai Kibaki, Kijana Wamalwa and Charity Ngilu. They were trying to come up with a working formula to ensure they captured power from whoever Moi would announce as preferred candidate. Moi named Uhuru, an inexperienced political greenhorn then in the eyes of many. But what irritated many Kenyans was not the choice of Uhuru but the legacy of the Nyayo error. Economy was collapsing , poverty was the norm in many homes, graft was rampant and taxation was high. It’s that legacy of the Moi regime that costed Uhuru the Presidency in 2002.
Fast forward to 2018. Raila Odinga has teamed up with Uhuru Kenyatta in what we are told is a handshake. He is encouraging Uhuru Kenyatta to do every bad deed in the book of bad legacy. He strongly supports taxation and overtaxation. You may actually think that ODM is today in government and Raila Odinga is Uhuru’s deputy. What this does is that it taints and errodes every good thing Jubilee did in the first five years. By the time Uhuru is exiting the scene no Mp, Governor or MCA in Jubilee would want to be associated with him … By making life of the common Wananchi difficult through overtaxation Uhuru Kenyatta is replaying what Moi did in the destruction of the legacy. Whoever Uhuru names and backs as preferred successor may have a difficult start in the 2022 race. That’s what Odinga is banking on.
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