Both Raila Odinga’s presidential campaign and that of Kalonzo Musyoka are working hard to steer this campaign in the direction of issues. PNU on the other hand are determined to reduce this campaign into a tribal insult-hurling contest.
After Finance Minister Amos Kimunya told Kenyans that the stock exchange has lost a staggering 200 billion because of fear amongst investors that Raila may end up being president, the ODM candidate made a surprise appearance at the Nairobi Stock Exchange this morning and reassured Kenyans that his government would embrace the NSE and its objectives as a way to empower more Kenyans to participate in the economy of the country.
Meanwhile the PNU crowd have not responded to claims from both Raila and Kalonzo that they are preparing to rig the forthcoming polls. Nobody has moved to reassure Kenyans even after the appointment of a brand new inexperienced Vice Chair to the electoral commission. Something rather strange to do when we know that the chairman’s Samuel Kuvuitu’s tenure is bound to expire before the polls. So why would the government want inexperienced commissioners handling the most complex election in the history of Kenya? This is something that rattles investors much more than the face of one Agwambo, that you can be sure about.
So as Raila and kalonzo continue to raise issues and avoid insults, the PNU train is bound to run out of steam pretty quickly. This kind of thing needs a response to remain oiled and to run properly and so far the opposition have denied the government that.
It really is fascinating watching a government that ran out of ideas a long time ago, also run out of ideas fro its’ campaign. In my view this thing of the president’s daughter running his foundation and his political campaign is a terrible idea. It gives the public the impression that this thing is a family issue and so maybe voters should just send off this wonderful family back to Othaya to rest.
I am still desperately waiting to see something, anything that looks like a serious election campaign from the PNU crowd. Why am I desperate? Because like the mainstream press, there is nothing to report about PNU and so it makes us all vulnerable top accusations of favoring ODM. You see what Kenyans do not want to understand is that thepress cannot create news, it only covers it and a lot of what PNU guys see at their meetings is not worth reporting. In the event that the opposition wins, we will have the worst opposition in Kenyan parliamentary history. Can you imagine listening to all that hogwash for the next 5 years?
Again this is the sort of issue that will scare smart investors. We need a strong opposition to check government excesses.
