Raila Has No Legal Mandate To Declare A Public Holiday

By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga

Worth Noting:

• Once the President caved in and invited him to join government, he would be contented. He would no longer expose and pinpoint the wrongs and ills associated with the government.
• He would even forget the foot soldiers (jeshi la baba) who had fearlessly pushed his agenda and were ready to pay the ultimate the price.
• He would turn deaf ear to the cry of those arrested, locked up, maimed, other victims, and their families.
• Many believed this what he did in the aftermath of the 2007 and 2017 general elections, respectively.
• This after he forced President Mwai Kibaki and President Uhuru Kenyatta to cede their hardline stances and invited him to join thier respective government.

Azimio La Umoja-One Kenya Coalition leader Raila Odinga has declared that the coming Monday will be a public holiday. Addressing anti-President Ruto rally in his home turf of Siaya, he said his decision had been informed by the importance of this day.

March 20 will be a D-Day culminating to climax of the journey of liberating our country from ‘yoke’ of oppression and dictatorship that stood as the hallmark of the current regime of Mr Ruto and Gachagua.

You know that I don’t recognize Ruto as the President and officers serving in his administration. This is because they stole your victory. You elected me as your President but they rigged me out in broad day light.

As per law, Raila has no legal power to declare a public holiday. This power is bestowed on the cabinet secretary in charge of Interior and Coordination of National Administration.

Apart from claiming that he had a ‘dossier’from a ‘whistle blower’, Raila has never bothered to prove these allegations by providing tangible and water-tight evidence.

When he moved to the Supreme Court and filed his petition, one would have expected him to submit the dossier as the main evidence in seeking to overturn the victory of Dr William Ruto.

He failed to do so. The so called dossier was conspicuously missing in a lorry full of documentation he presented at SCoK.

The seven judges, in a unanimous judgement, ruled that all this was a hot-air as they upheld Ruto’s victory.

Well, this is not the first time that Raila is inciting his supporters to participate in a mass action and allegedly reclaim thier ‘stolen’.

Though he always created the impression he was doing this for sake of ‘Wanjiku’, the story would change immediately after he had his way.

It would turn out all along he was pursing a selfish interest.

Once the President caved in and invited him to join government, he would be contented. He would no longer expose and pinpoint the wrongs and ills associated with the government.

He would even forget the foot soldiers (jeshi la baba) who had fearlessly pushed his agenda and were ready to pay the ultimate the price.

He would turn deaf ear to the cry of those arrested, locked up, maimed, other victims, and their families.

Many believed this what he did in the aftermath of the 2007 and 2017 general elections, respectively.

This after he forced President Mwai Kibaki and President Uhuru Kenyatta to cede their hardline stances and invited him to join thier respective government.

Back to Siaya rally, Raila charged the crowd when he told them. You know the day is drawing closer.   I have asked you to travel to Nairobi and I know you will not let down me.

This is because the ‘pain’ that Ruto government has inflicted on you is too much and you cannot bear it anymore.

He once again cited the high cost of living; removal of subsidies on foodstuff and fuel.   I am here to liberate you.

On that day I will lead you to march to State House to present our public petition to Mr Ruto. We shall also pile pressure on him to surrender the seat of presidency. This is because he is an ‘illegitimate’ President.

If Ruto insists that I did not win, I dare him to open the presidential election servers.

Given these remarks, one thing was clear. Raila was planning to stage a civilian coup. Raila should stop making fools out of us. He has been telling us that the mass action he had called is rooted in the constitution and rule of law, yet he was looking forward to commit one of most serious crime-treason. I doubt he will succeed.

I’m sure the state security apparatus will use all means under the law to thwart his attempt to overthrow a democratic and popularly elected government of Kenya which is headed by President Ruto.

I hope Raila is not planning to put the lives of jobless young people he has recruited to do his donkey work in line of fire. If some of them are fatally shot (God forbid), what will you will gain?

I thought the  truce with then-president Uhuru (read the ‘handshake’) was anchored on his quest to shed off the tag confrontational politics, being blood thirsty and unnecessary demonstrations/mass action associated with him. This would have shaped and help him  leave behind a good and memorable legacy.

But as things stand now, it is clear he took Kenyans for a ride.  For how long will he continue to participate in talks of how to  share of a ‘nusu mkate’ while standing and dining on ‘graves’ of his departed  fanatical and diehard supporters.

As I conclude, I know President Ruto has been receiving daily briefs from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) touching on what Raila’s threat to storm State House, Nairobi, would portends  if he makes good his threat.

Therefore, I would expect the government to nip Raila’s plan in the bud before that day.

Majority of Kenyans do not want to see our country being plunged into political chaos, bloodshed and a period of mourning.

Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a writer and political analyst based in Nairobi