Raila’s Call For Civil Disobedience, Products Boycott Is Doomed To Fail
The Mt Kenya Times 
Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga
By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga
Worth Noting:
- This is because President Ruto has totally refused to cave in to his demand for a ‘nusu mkate’ (half loaf).
- Tinga, you developed a bad habit. Every time when you lose the elections, you always resorted to forcibly pushing for a half share of the government. This will not happen again. Forget it!, Ruto once told him.
- He added: Tinga, you cannot change the will of the people of Kenya. They spoke loudly during the elections. So, accept you lost the election and move on.
- We want you to stick to your lane as an opposition leader. Criticize us when we go wrong. You should, however, engage us in a structured and constructive dialogue.
This is not the first time we are hearing the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Party leader Raila inciting his supporters to participate in a campaign of civil disobedience and boycott of certain products.
He would target the products and services owned and offered by those he had been made to believe ‘stole or aided in stealing his victory’.
He had unsuccessfully contested five presidential elections since the repeal of Section 2A of the constitution in 1991 to usher in multiparty democracy.
When the final results were declared and the victor is announced, he would always cry foul.
I had won this poll but I was rigged out in a broad day light, blah, blah blah.
This would irritate some of his critics who would pose. Why can’t he also rig? What stops him from doing this?
The story was the same when Dr William Ruto wrestled him to the ground in last year’s General Election.
He would once again resort to using the card of defiance. This time, the going is tough for him.
This is because President Ruto has totally refused to cave in to his demand for a ‘nusu mkate’ (half loaf).
Tinga, you developed a bad habit. Every time when you lose the elections, you always resorted to forcibly pushing for a half share of the government. This will not happen again. Forget it!, Ruto once told him.
He added: Tinga, you cannot change the will of the people of Kenya. They spoke loudly during the elections. So, accept you lost the election and move on.
We want you to stick to your lane as an opposition leader. Criticize us when we go wrong. You should, however, engage us in a structured and constructive dialogue.
Criticism is not enough. We expect you to also give us practical solutions.
As a demonstration of his commitment to this cause, the President has been in fore front pushing for the creation of the Office of the Official Leader of Opposition.
We recognize the critical role that the Opposition plays. We want to give them teeth.
The President repeated this recently during a working visit in Paris, France.
In an interview with one of the Media house, he told the reporter. I have no problem with Raila Odinga’s role of putting my government in checks.
It is, however, important to note this. Kenya is not a banana republic. It is a country governed by the constitution and the rule of law. So, he is duty bound to fully comply with the relevant provisions of the constitution and related laws.
When he organizes his demonstrations, he must ensure they are peaceful and his supporters are unarmed.
As a government, we have a responsibility to ensure the rights and lives of those not participating are protected. Equally, we have a duty to protect the properties of all Kenyans.
What we have been seeing in the past contradicts this.
Raila’s demonstrations always turned chaotic, bloody and destructive. This is unacceptable.
Before the handshake between him and then President Uhuru Kenyatta, he had asked his supporters to boycott certain products.
This included the services offered by Safaricom PLC, the leading telecommunication in Kenya and milk products from Brookside, a company associated with Kenyatta family.
Many Kenyans did not heed his call and this prompted him to rescind his decision a few days later.
Nevertheless, Uhuru went ahead and shake hands with him.
Raila was upbeat. He got contented and never contested and faulted the decisions of Uhuru anymore.
Raila had earlier armtwisted, intimidated and blackmailed President Mwai Kibaki to share the government with him.
This time, the situation was so bad. Some 1,333 Kenyans lost their lives in the post-election violence that rocked the country. Properties worth billions of shillings were also destroyed.
Calm and normalcy was restored when the two leaders agreed to sign a ‘ceasefire’ accord.
This followed the interventions of the International community through Koffi Annan led mediation talks.
Given this background, it has dawned on many Kenyans that Raila did not believe in their cause.
He has been fighting for selfish and personal interests.
He would not care about how many people lose their lives.
For this reason, I’m persuaded to believe that his latest incitement on his supporters to participate in civil disobedience and shun some products will not bear any fruits.
You cannot tell the people to shun products without offering them an alternative. Secondly, this was purely an act of economic sabotage.
Kenyans are not ready to destroy their economy.
They know that the economy was in a very bad when President William Ruto assumed power.
The handshake government which was steered by President Uhuru and Raila was largely to be blamed.
This is because a huge chunk of taxpayers’ money was being channelled to bankroll political activities which were mainly designed to stop William Ruto from ascending to power. The prices of essential commodities had shot up. For instance, the retail price of 2kg packet of Unga (maize flour) stood at Sh230.
The other question Kenyans would ask is. Had the owners of these products committed anything wrong? The answer is big No.
Raila used and exhausted all legal mechanisms in his bid to overturn Ruto’s victory.
He never succeeded because he failed to produce evidence worth the paper it had been written on.
The Supreme Court of Kenya made this observation when it termed his petition as a hogwash.
In a unanimous decision, the judges described it as a cocktail of propaganda, rumors, vendetta, outright lies and perjury.
Consequently, the apex court upheld the election of Dr Ruto.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) had complied with the requirements of the constitution and other related law.
So the polls outcome reflected the wish and aspirations of the majority of Kenyans, the court ruled.
The local and international observers had also given the poll a clean bill of health.
They included the observers who represented US, UK, European Union (EU) and Africa Union (AU).
With this, Raila should rethink his strategy. May be it is time he should call it a day.
Let me give him a free advise. It is hard to use the card of Finance Bill 2023 to incite Kenyans against Dr Ruto.
Reason? They know the government does not have money of its own.
The state relies on revenues it collects from taxpayers to implement the development projects and programmes.
Even if it is Raila who won the elections, he would not have performed any miracle. He would have relied on taxes to run the government.
Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a writer and political analyst based in Nairobi
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