"…I am probably your most serious challenger for the presidency."
In welcoming President Kibaki to his Mwingi North constituency this week, area MP Kalonzo Musyoka said those words in his brief speech delivered in his usual style of speaking in Swahili polluted with big English words which one wonders whether the majority of the simple village people that make a huge percentage of his constituents ever understand. In fact the quoted part was fully delivered in English.
Now let us reverse roles a little and put Raila Odinga in Kalonzo's shoes. What do you think would have happened in a similar situation of Raila Odinga hosting the president in his Langata constituency? Bwana Nyundo would have probably delivered the whole sentence in Kiswahili jerking his forehead forward for emphasis as he usually does. No doubt a brief soccer commentary where he scores the goal with President Kibaki as the hapless goalkeeper would have followed.
But what would have followed?
You guessed it, CHAOS.
Kalonzo would have cried foul and would have immediately called a press conference to say that some candidates wanted to give the public the impression that the ODM presidential candidate has already been decided in their favor. And he would have whined and complained and protested—as he usually does. And no doubt the ODM high command would have scrambled to make amends (as they usually do).
But I guess it is okay when Kalonzo says things that give the impression that he is the leading ODM presidential contender.
NTV Swahili news bulletin have a fascinating new series where they give ordinary folks a platform to talk politics. A clip yesterday featured various views on the controversial Steadmann poll. One man summarized the whole Kalonzo fiasco in ODM perfectly. He said that Kalonzo had been a Raila project all along (and that is why he scored highly in the Steadmann polls) because many people believed that Raila would leave the presidency for him this time round. Actually Raila is on record as clearly telling wananchi "Kalonzo tosha" in Ukambani in the run up to the referendum where he emphasized in several meetings that if the Kamba voted against the then proposed constitution, he (Raila) would ensure that Kalonzo would be the opposition's presidential candidate. Alas that may have been just one of the many lies told for the sake of defeating the government in the referendum. They were so many other blatant lies that were told to wananchi that to this day Justice Minister Martha Karua cannot stand the site of Raila.
But what goes round comes around. Kenyans, the majority of whom see the only hope for the country in ODM, are about to be deeply disappointed. ODM has already lost most of Kanu and contrary to common belief the party never really had Kalonzo Musyoka, and they are about to realize why.
Yesterday party secretary general Prof. Anyang Nyong'o put a strong face when journalists asked him about Kanu's now clear intentions to officially withdraw from ODM. Nyong'o said that the ODM high command were like the Chinese, they genuinely do not interfere with the internal affairs of others (in this case constituent parties of ODM). Still the truth is that an ODM without Kalonzo Musyoka and most of Kanu is bound to be a much weaker ODM.
Kumekucha has learnt the hard way that there are some people within the ODM high command that are masters of planting propaganda, half truths and blatant lies within the press all disguised as exclusives. I have since established through a spokesperson for John Githongo that the issue of him being a contender in the party HAS NEVER been discussed with him.
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