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ODM leader
Raila at Kasarani where party polls aborted
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Sunday, March 9th 2014 KIPCHUMBA SOME
Kenya: The extended family of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has been
thrust at the centre of a bruising battle for the control of the Orange
Democratic Movement as the race to succeed him begins. Some of his closest
family members and longtime political confidants feature prominently in two
opposing camps that, according to party insiders, are vying to succeed him. On
one side of the family divide is his elder brother, Nominated MP Oburu Oginga,
and on the other is Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo, his cousin.
The two are perceived to
be representing the old guard and the Young Turks of the party, respectively.
The Odinga family has always moved in a tight band but the war of words between
the two MPs – which began in the run-up to last year’s General Election, belies
an epic struggle for the heart and soul of the country’s biggest political
party by parliamentary representation. Prof Makau Mutua, the dean at the
University at Buffalo Law School and an ardent supporter of Raila says what is
happening in ODM are the early political machinations to succeed the party
leader. Now Watch: Party leader Raila Odinga holds talks with warring
factions,which agree to share several positions “The young people in ODM have
concluded that the king is wounded and therefore should be removed. I think
they have concluded that his best days are behind him now and that it is their
turn to take charge. This is not a fight that will end soon and with time Raila
will be a peripheral player in what is happening,” he said. Last week, ODM was
forced to postpone the election of new party officials after goons posing as
party security personnel destroyed polling materials. The jury is still out on
whether the chaos was spontaneous or planned, as some senior party officials
have intimated. Whichever the verdict, many contend that the elections might
have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. A war of words
pitting Midiwo on the one hand and some of Raila’s close allies led by Oburu
and Homa Bay Senator Otieno Kajwang’ on the other hand marked the entire
campaign process. Midiwo has accused Oburu, Kajwang’ and other members of
Raila’s kitchen Cabinet of giving the party leader wrong advice and wants them
kicked out of the party’s leadership altogether.
It is a war that saw Raila’s campaign manager in the last elections Eliud
Owalo “withdraw” his services from ODM this week following what he termed
persistent and unwarranted attacks by Midiwo. Nothing to add Owalo told The
Standard on Sunday that he did not have a word to add over and above what he
wrote in his letter to Raila, but some party members accuse him of mismanaging
Raila’s campaigns last year. On the other hand, Oburu has hit back saying
Midiwo is punching way above his political weight and further claimed that he
never won his Gem seat fairly in the last elections. But the war between Jakoyo
and Oburu is not entirely new: the former opted to support James Orengo for the
Siaya Senate seat over Oburu during last year’s March 4 polls. The war of words
between the two cousins is surprising to many Kenyans but as a family insider
who did not wish to be named since he is not authorised to speak on behalf of
the family put it, it has everything to do with who succeeds Raila. Now Watch:
Party leader Raila Odinga holds talks with warring factions,which agree to
share several positions “I see no family dispute in this. Raila, Jakoyo and
Oburu meet often and talk about family issues but each of them holds different
views on the future of the party. That is politics. I believe that what we are
witnessing in ODM is nothing more than a fight for the heart and soul of the
party between the young Turks and the old guard,” he said. In any case, said
Tony Gachoka, who was Raila’s director of protocol while he was Prime Minister
until their bitter fallout in 2011, said Raila is his own man.“It is easy and
quite convenient to say Raila is being misadvised. That is quite convenient for
me. But the Raila I know is his own man. He will listen to advice from family
and friends but ultimately he makes the decisions himself, be they popular or
not,” he said. Significant position Midiwo opposed the idea of the elections
all along and boycotted the polls at Kasarani, saying he saw no reason for them
to be held now. He predicted, quite correctly, that the polls would divide the
party. “Jakoyo has everything to gain by aligning himself with the youthful
leaders in the party as opposed to the old guard. What has Oburu got to lose?
ODM is a mass movement party and whoever has a significant position in it, has
a toehold in the politics of the nation,” said the insider. Other prominent
Nyanza politicians who did not attend the party elections include Orengo,
Nairobi Governor Dr Evans Kidero and Rongo MP Dalmas Otieno
Dalmas withdrew his candidature for the post of Secretary General saying
he had been coerced by Raila to do so. Never before has ODM members so openly
and brazenly taken positions thought or perceived to be at variance with those
of Raila as they have done in the run up to the party polls. Another ODM
insider who is very close to the Odinga family who asked not to be named so as
to speak freely, said this kind of criticism is what ODM needs the most now.
“The last two elections that Raila lost left a bitter taste in our mouths,
because we lost narrowly. But we have to appreciate that some degree of poor
planning contributed to the defeat. Some decisions were made without consulting
party members,” he said. He added, “A few people sat in a closed door and made
decisions that had far-reaching implications. That is what we want to avoid at
all costs if we are to reinvent ourselves for the next polls. We cannot do
things the same way and expect a different result. What we are asking for is a
call for greater transparency and openness in the running of party affairs.”
New style Now Watch: Party leader Raila Odinga holds talks with warring
factions,which agree to share several positions A number of young politicians
from Raila’s Nyanza backyard have openly called for a new way of doing things
in ODM in such a brave manner that could easily be misconstrued as being
rebellious. However, the tragedy of it is that these young politicians have
been bashed as ungrateful betrayers and moles working for the Jubilee
government to destroy ODM within. That is the all-too familiar lethal weapon
that nearly all parties in Kenya use whenever they want to cut down to size an
ambitious young politician. However, the insider decried this method of
approaching dissent, a strategy usually associated with the party old guard, as
doing more harm than good to the party. “When some of the aspirants were
labelled Jubilee moles, I knew we had lost the plot. This kind of talk has been
used to suppress and intimidate outspoken members,” he said. Going back to
recent memory he said: “That was the same kind of talk that drove away Ruto
(Deputy President William Ruto) and company. How can we be talking of
reinventing ourselves by creating bad blood between our supporters?”
Makua casts doubts about Raila’s capacity to successfully transform the
party into a national outfit that can survive without him being at the heart of
it. “Political parties are captive to individuals. The fate of the party is
usually tied to the fate of the party leaders. In my own assessment there are
too many tribal interests in ODM that will prevent him from carrying out any
meaningful reforms. If he forces them through, then he will likely be the first
victim of the reforms,” he said. ODM was raked over the coals for the aborted
elections at Kasarani. See, its competitors said, the single largest party in
the country is not as democratic as it claims after all. But the two party
insiders who asked not to be named said the botched elections were a blessing
in disguise for the party. “Yes, they did not present the best image of our
party. But we now have time for the tempers to cool off and think issues over
again,” said one of them.
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