Is the country ready for a run-off?

Vitalis Musebe and Arch Christopher Makhanu, in todays' issue of The Sunday Standard brought into fore some nice topic for consideration; is the country ready for a run-off?

As much as the rules to be engaged in a run-off are concerned, and as much as I would not want to pour cold water on their reasoning, and as much as we truly need to be ready for such eventualities, the obtaining scenario in Kenya does not need such rules of engagement.

I am happy that many Kenyans have decided to vote for Raila Odinga come 27th December 2007. And this has been consistently proved by the many opinion polls conducted in the recent past.

Out of 8 provinces, 6 have consistently said they would vote Raila with a landslide, only 2 have decided to go tribal, that is Central and upper Eastern. The rest of the country has managed to shed the tag of tribalism and can conveniently look at you as a Kenyan.

The fact that Kenyans from 6 provinces have given Raila a thumbs up with margins that have been consistently above 50%, and way ahead of the nearest challenger despite Steadman denials, cannot bring forth the kind of fears our two friends have.

It is only in Central and Eastern that we must deal with perceptions of tribal leanings to secure a tribal free thinking in Kenya. They still tend to positively pronounce their tribal preferences at the expense of the whole country, but that is a small segment that we must deal with to effectively bury the ghost of tribalism that Kibaki and his team so forcefully brought to the fore after we thought we had buried tribalism.

In the obtaining scenarios, Kenyans in their vast majorities across the country have broken through the tribal thought process and they have come forward to look at Raila, first as a Kenyan, not as a Kenyan of Luo descent.

Many people have seen in Raila, and positively at that, as the current person amongst the presidential contenders who can bring unity to all Kenyans devoid of tribal fix minds that hanged about Kibaki. And that is what Kenyans want.

To this extent, scenarios of a run-off does not exist. How do you engage in a run-off with someone you have beaten convincingly in 6 out of 8 provinces?

It is true the constitution talks of at least a win of 25% in 5 provinces, and Raila has scored more than 50% consistently in 6 provinces, Kibaki has done that in only 1 and a half provinces. How can there be a run-off?

To this extent, Raila fits the constitutional references the two friends have pointed out, while Kibaki has failed to score on the same. And that is good news for the country, that we have no fear of a run-off.

As much as we need the law to be clear on such issues to avoid trouble, we do not currently need any constitutional interpretations to know that someone with clear backing from 6 out of 8 provinces cannot be subjected to a run-off with someone with backing from only 1.5 provinces, because half of Eastern will vote Kalonzo or Raila.

What all Kenyans must do now is to talk to our brothers and sisters from Central province to love Kenya more than they love themselves.

Odhiambo T Oketch
Komarock Nairobi