ODMK Nomination: Odinga is being short changed again

Now Mr Kenyatta, Mr Ruto and Mr Mudavadi expressed reservations about the consensus method and urged the committee to come up with a method that satisfy their supporters and that Mr Ruto, Mr Musyoka and Mr Kenyatta had prevailed on Mr Kosgey to call off the National Executive Committee meeting that was meant to set an agenda for the plenary. As reported in the nation Odinga questioned this action by Kosgey.

It is evident that little by little the presidential luminaries are forming camps leaving Odinga in the middle for possible isolation. The key to ODM not spliitting seems now to rely on whether Odinga is going to accept to be short changed for the so called compromise candidate. Odinga has been given a silent altimatum. Toe the line or we form ODMKK and leave you with your ODMK. That is my take. It may wrong but it appears so from the fence. The question I ask myself is, who is this compromise candidate and why a compromise candidate? Who coined this term and when was the polls taken to find this compromise candidate? We know who is being touted. But if indeed a compromise candidate is the issue then ODMK should first conduct a poll amongst party members to find out who the candidate is and if he can beat Kibaki. I wonder if he can?

Obviously in the mind of these camps, this compromising person is not Odinga at all. If it was so everyone of them could have gone to London to ratify him. How was the compromise status of this candidate arrived at. From the statemnet above, it is the so called supporters of the presidential luminaries who have decided. How true is this. As far as I am concerned, the supporters of Kalonzo are Kambas and I do not expect them to have a problem with Odinga because they have never shown any animosity against odinga or luos. The supporters of Ruto are Kalenjins who I believe would gladly support Odinga. Those of Mudavadi are luhyas, Odinga has luhya blood in him and luhyas have always lived side by side with luos and have shared alot even some aspect of languages. Finally the supporters of Uhuru are neither here or there because all the Kikuyus are going to vote for Kibaki come rain or sunshine, no convincing necessary.

Now why then are the presidential aspirants hiding behind their supporters. It is simple they are scared of Odinga for reasons I do not understand but I can guess. First the luo factor is a big problem for Odinga. Odinga like any other candidate is surrounded by powerful educated luos and if he comes to power he will come in with these friends who will take over the running of the government. The notion these people have about luos is that they are proud, no nonesense leaders who would run you down to get to the trueth and kick you out mercilessly if they found you at fault. If a luo was justice Ringera, Murungaru or Kiraitu will be in jail and if I say jail I mean real jail where crooks could be playing with their buttocks and turningthem into girlfriends. Mchuki by now could have joined Aturo and Aturo himself would not be talking of marrying a daughter of a president after all that mess. Truely is this what kenya fears. Yes that is it. Kenya is still corrupt through and through and no doubt none of

these hopefulls still hate a clean government because they are dirty and if they let Odinga in they might be in trouble in one way or another. For a luo if you are dirty you will be told publicly to go and wash. No exceptions. If kenya wanted development and eradication of poverty, this caharacter should be naurished not vilified and hence Odinga should not be isolated, he should be the candidate.

The other problems these luminaries see is Odinga himself. Odinga has suffered and is clean. As I said before, if Odinga was dirty he could have been in jail now. Now you know that a person who does not live in a grass thatched house can easily light fire any time. The presidential hopefulls believe that if Odinga come to power he will open up investigations into corruption that will not spare anyone and will result into some of these guys going to jail. I strongly believe that these people should not be afraid of this as Odinga can only do this at his own perril because he will loose supporters. You cannot run the country with only one tribe.

Finally Odinga's character is misconstrued. The luminaries believe that Odinga is aggressive, headsrong and possibly a dictator. They believe that once Odinga come to power, no one will tell him what to do. He will be running the country by him and himself and everything will be personal to himself. While to some extent this was true of the Odinga of old. I mean the Odinga whose supporters literraly whooped Miruka Owuor out to an extent that he did not even try to contest Nyando seat, the Odinga of today has learnt alot and has changed. Raila Odinga now knows that kenya is a tribal country. He has realized that Kenyan presidency is not just a matter of qualification or popularity but is a matter of how many tribal kingpins you have around you and if you loose these kingpins even if they are pinheads you cannot rule Kenya. The luminaries have nothing to fear of Raila because he has been tamed by the losses he suffered in the three presidential elections.

The luminaries must come into terms with the trueth. The trueth is that if ODMK splits, Kibaki is going back and back again. Would the luminaries like Mchuki as the minister in charge of security again. Would they want Murungaru back. The reason for the possible split is very simple. It is Kalonzo versus Odinga. I believe Kalonzo is still young and has several opportunities ahead. And if everything is in place he would be the next president. Kalonzo must realize what is at stake, swallow his pride and settle for prime minister or vice president position. Once this happens ODMK will be on his way to victory. If Kalonzo leaves what is best position, possibly a minister in Kibaki government or a mere MP, likewise Raila. Is this what you guys want. The key isssue is to keep ODMK united and the person who can do it is Raila. Give Raila a chance. He is probably your best chance. ODMK unite for the future of Kenya.

Dr. Barack Otieno Abonyo