I was momentarily bemused when a known idle lawyer with obscure clan grouses suggested he had recently landed from the moon with the discovery that Nasa was a State House project designed to prevent Raila Odinga from ascending to the Presidency.
I stopped being bemused when Edwin Sifuna’s evidence was an insulting insinuation that the Nasa prompter, Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi, doesn’t have the intellectual capacity to conceive of an idea of the National Super Alliance’s complexity.
But the indolent, struggling junior counsel must’ve been a toddler when Kenya needed Mudavadi to steer it from its worst economic quagmire in the early 1990s. Kenya stared failed state status in the face before Mudavadi was appointed Finance minister.
It’s one thing to hate a person; it is another to call that person an imbecile for displaying brilliance. But while on his political moonwalk, Sifuna also missed a brief on Nasa by his unsolicited pro bono client – Raila.
“The Opposition is expanding and Cord will be part of the expanded Opposition. Those focusing on Cord alone are therefore missing the point. The Opposition will present a single candidate and Cord will be part of that arrangement,” said Raila, in a clear endorsement of Nasa.
Nasa is also translated loosely into Kiswahili as Muungano Maluum.
As usual, the talk has prematurely jumped from what Nasa is to who should occupy what pole position within the alliance, even before those angling to belong digest what it is.
Nasa’s unexpected shock therapy across the political landscape is what causes juvenile pundits like Sifuna to seek safety in heckling and conspiracy theories.
According to Mudavadi, “2017 will be the year when things will change. We are talking and Nasa is growing.
We will use it to get rid of Jubilee and stop its leaders from stealing Kenyan money. We will use Nasa to catch the thieves. Anybody who will be outside Nasa will be part of Jubilee.
They are the people we want to eject from office because they are stealing from Kenyans”.
To understand Nasa, you need to look at its broader goals and objectives in terms of membership and post-election agenda.
It is a special purpose vehicle, an issue-based partnership of the people of Kenya, conceived as a mass movement of political parties, institutions, organised groups and individuals to remove the Jubilee regime from power and provide alternative and accountable leadership.