The Mt Kenya Times 
Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Party leader Raila Odinga
Joseph Mutua Ndonga
Worth Noting:
- Once the sitting President Raila agrees to share the national cake with him, he always becomes contented. He would not question or fault the government’s decisions even those that derailed the course of public interest.
- This time, the going is tough for him. This is because President William Ruto has totally refused to cave in to his political machinations of blackmail and intimidation. You lost the election. Stick to your lane and does your job as an opposition leader, Dr Ruto would tell him in various occasions.
- Raila is yet to give up. He thinks that reviving the spirit of the Saba Saba will give him a new lifeline to sustain his pressure on Ruto to succumb.
Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Party leader Raila Odinga has called for what he has termed as a mega rally on Saba Saba (seven seven) at Kamukunji grounds in Nairobi. He later said the rallies will be held across the country on that day.
To me, this sounds more like a climb down. He had initially declared that he would launch a countrywide civil disobedience on this day.
For starters, July 7 in 1990 is supposed to be marked in remembrance of the sacrifices made by those who led the clamor for multiparty democracy.
On this day, a heavy contingent of anti-riot police deployed to stop the organisers and their supporters from accessing the grounds used excessive force to contain and repulse them. A number of the protestors were shot dead.
The police had in the eve of rally rounded up and arrested three leading crusaders led by Kenneth Matiba.
One year later, then President Daniel Arap Moi caved in to the mounting pressure and allowed the repeal of Section 2A of the constitution paving the way for the reintroduction of political pluralism.
During this period, Kenyans were fighting for a worth course geared towards the restoration of democracy.
In the subsguent years this day mattered less for Azimio/ODM leader.
As a result, it would be a low-key event or at time pass unnoticed.
Many Kenyans would aver this was because Raila no longer believed in fight for the rights of the people.
He would however pretend to this while in pursuant of his selfish and personal goals.
Once the sitting President William Ruto agrees to share the national cake with him, he always becomes contented. He would not question or fault the government’s decisions even those that derailed the course of public interest.
This time, the going is tough for him. This is because President William Ruto has totally refused to cave in to his political machinations of blackmail and intimidation. You lost the election. Stick to your lane and does your job as an opposition leader, Dr Ruto would tell him in various occasions.
Raila is yet to give up. He thinks that reviving the spirit of the Saba Saba will give him a new lifeline to sustain his pressure on Ruto to succumb.
I doubt he stands any chance of having his way. First, majority of Kenyans were not yet born when the first Saba Saba was held. Here, we are talking of the youth who are aged 33 and below.
They do not understand this history. How do you expect to rope them in?
Again, you have made many of them to lose trust and faith in you. This is because of distorting your history by abandoning the ideals that you stood for.
Initially, you embraced the spirit of Mau Mau fighters who fought from the trenches to liberate this country from the yoke of the British colonial government. You were not fighting for selfish reasons of grabbing power and amassing wealth. You were fighting to recreate and rebuild Kenya for the betterment of all us as Kenyans.
The other day I read a lead story published by one of the Weekly newspapers in Kenya which bore the headline ‘Raila wants Ruto one term President’. Raila enumerated a raft of strategies that would make his dream come to pass.
One of them is that former President Uhuru Kenyatta was fully backing his campaigns.
These were my observations.
First, this was not the first time the name of the former President would be mentioned.
Earlier when Raila was holding the demonstrations, a group of powerful politicians aligned to the ruling Kenya Kwanza government from Mount Kenya region led by the Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and National Assembly majority leader Kimani Ichungwah kept alleging.
The former President was the key financier of Raila’s Mandamano.
They would allege the ultimate goal of the duo was two-pronged.
One, mobilize and incite Kenyans to rise up against President Ruto. This is with a view of toppling him from power through popular uprising.
If they fail on this, they will embark on Plan B that would make Dr William Ruto a time term president.
If this were to happen, Ruto would go down into annals of history as the first one term president.
I want to say this. If you do a comparative analysis of the presidencies of Mwai Kibaki, Uhuru Kenyatta and now William Ruto, one thing is clear.
The latter is hard nut to crack. So, if the former two managed to manauver and got re-elected for second term, I would not expect the strategy of handshake duo to bear any fruits.
Up to date, the former president has remained non-committal on whether he was bankrolling Raila’s campaign of defiance.
The last time I heard him speaking was after attending the burial of former Education CS George Magoha in Siaya.
While accompanied by Raila Odinga, he made a stopover in Kisumu. He told the residents.
I’m still a staunch member of Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Party. Baba is my leader. Those who think that Uhuru Kenyatta retired from politics are wrong. I only retired as a president and I’m not tired. Baba meant well for this country. So, agenda of Azimio is very much alive.
Things took a new turn later when goons raided properties owned by the two leaders.
This happened on a day when Raila was leading a demonstration in the city of Nairobi.
The raid on Northland farm associated with Kenyatta family left a trail of destructions.
The goons stole tens of hundreds of Dorper goats; slaughtered some of the animals and sold the meat to motorists and passers-by at a throw way prices.
The goons also burnt trees and demarcated part of the land and started to put up structures.
This incident elicited mixed reactions. In Mount Kenya, the opinion was divided.
Those who supported argued. Our leaders have been saying the former President was supporting Raila’s Mandamano (demonstrations).
The small scale business people bore the brunt as the protestors targeted our businesses.
They would destroy them and engage in looting spree.
At the end of day, we are left counting losses running into billions of shillings.
The deputy President had earlier stated. The business community in Nairobi city was losing 2 billion a day when the demonstration was taking place.
So, it seems this is the message the goons were sending to Uhuru.
Being a former President and a scion of the richest family of former President Jomo Kenyatta, you should not take this to mean your properties are safe.
We wanted you to feel the pain we go through.
Besides destructions witnessed, the business people were forced to stay at home because of fear of being attacked.
At this juncture, allow me to say this. So far, there is no tangible evidence that former President was sponsoring Raila’s demonstrations.
However, his remarks and body language suggested he was supporting his campaign.
Reports indicated the well- endowed promoters raised money for mobilization and other logistic issues. This explains why many Kenyans would want to hear former President’s response.
It is worth to recall Uhuru openly campaigned for Raila in the countdown to 2022 general election. He had also roped in tycoons drawn from Mount Kenya behind his candidature.
A few days ago, Raila and his brigade held a rally at Kamukunji ground. In his speech, Raila left no doubt that he was determined to take his campaign of defiance to a new level.
“We told Mr Ruto that the Finance Bill 2023 was bad, punitive and asked him to withdraw it. He declined to heed our call and went ahead to assent to it. We are not relenting. We are going to push him hard so that he can know the power belongs to the people”.
Moving forward, we have launched a campaign of civil disobedience and tax boycotts. Here, Raila had set the stage for economic sabotage.
This showed that he did not believe in the cause of Wanjiku, the ordinary Kenyan.
He was hellbent on driving this country to dog while in pursuit of his selfish and personal interests.
It is worth note that Raila read a similar script in the aftermath of 2007 and 2017 general elections, respectively.
The other day, I read a story in the newspapers which made shocking and damning revelations.
The story which quoted audit reports alleged that loans totalling to Sh4 trillion borrowed during the reign of President Kenyatta could not be accounted for.
This is because this was done without following the financial laws.
The lion share was from the domestic borrowing.
This question is. Was this monies used for the public good? The story indicated a chunk of it was used to construct the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR). Equally, the story suggested a huge part of it could have been stolen.
In light of this, it is only a commission of inquiry that gives us a true picture of how these funds were spent.
I also had an opportunity to read and listen to comments attributed to Busia Senator Okiya Omtata. He claimed that Kenya has overpaid the loan monies. How? These were weighty allegations. He needed to substantiate them by producing supporting documents. He failed to do this.
To me, his claims bordered more on politics but not facts.
Remember he made these allegations after the court declined to rule in favor of his application seeking to stop the passage of Finance Bill, 2023.
He ought to have shed light on this. Which government had overpaid? Uhuru’s or Ruto’s government.
We know the foreign loans had been borrowed from financial institutions in different countries. Which were they overpaid?
If it is loans borrowed domestically, where are documents to show the institutions that were overpaid?
It is should be noted that President Uhuru’s Jubilee government break record buy borrowing the largest chunk of the foreign loans since independence.
The total amount stood at Sh9 trillion. This is the debt that President William Ruto inherited.
Most of these loans have since matured. The Kenya Kwanza government is spending 70 percent of revenues to service the loans.
Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a writer and political analyst based in Nairobi
Similar Posts by The Mt Kenya Times:
- Opposition faults government over punitive taxes, warns against elections rigging
- Leaders urged to unite for peace and humanitarian service at Kenya forum
- Kiambu businessman protests land grabbing, demands closure of Village bar
- Mt Kenya Times ePAPER May 25, 2026
- Gunners end Villa’s winning streak
About the Author
