NASA is deploying market research to gauge Presidential candidate Raila Odinga’s popularity and map out the country ahead of its epic battle with President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The NASA Pentagon is also mobilising a massive financial war chest, bringing on board wealthy and influential businesspeople to sustain a formidable campaign against the moneyed ruling Jubilee Party.
These behind-the-scenes details emerged after the opposition’s two-day retreat at Vipingo Ridge, Kilifi County, on Tuesday and Wednesday.
ODM, Raila’s political vehicle, is set to unveil the former Prime Minister formally as its presidential flag bearer tomorrow.
The Orange party’s National Delegates’ Convention to be held at the Kasarani Gymnasium will bring together delegates from all the 47 counties as its think-tanks put finishing touches on what they have crafted as “an unstoppable Brand Raila”.
The Star has established that the Alliance’s technical wing, mostly technocrats and academics, have mapped the country to guide their campaigns.
The mapping is based on an undisclosed opinion poll whose results remain secret, although the findings were discussed extensively during the retreat and other meetings.
The technical team, credited for crafting the NASA lineup, will also double as the Presidential campaign team.
It comprises Dr David Ndii, Dr Dan Ameyo, Dr Mutakha Kangu, Koitamet ole Kina and Abubakar Zein.
All the five NASA chiefs, Raila, Kalonzo Musyoka, Musalia Mudavadi, Moses Wetang’ula and Isaac Rutto, attended the Vipingo retreat.
Tomorrow Raila will officially be nominated by ODM for the nation’s top job at a colourful ceremony at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, Nairobi.
The nod by the ODM top decision-making organ comes just a week after the NASA Pentagon endorsed the former Prime Minister as the joint opposition Presidential candidate.
The twin high profile endorsements now give the ODM leader the impetus to kick off on a journey that he says was cut short in 2013 through the “stolen election”.
ODM Executive Director Oduor Ong’wen told the Star that all the NASA captains have been invited but ODM’s “international friends” may not attend.
“Because of the timing, we might not be able to have that [the international guests], although we sent invitations. This is coming in on the heels of many momentous events. We have just had the NASA process being concluded, we have just had our primaries, which are still at the appeals stage. So we didn’t so much focus externally this time round,” Ong’wen told the Star.
In 2013, Raila’s presidential nomination event was attended by many foreign leaders, including Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change leader and former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
During the meeting tomorrow, the NASA Principals will be expected to rally the delegates behind their campaign against President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The event will be attended by the Party’s top brass –– the National Executive Council, all ODM governors, MPs and delegates from across the country.
Also expected at the meeting are national officials of the ODM Women’s League, national officials of the ODM Youth League, members of the National Elections Board and the Majority and Minority leaders of the County Assemblies.
The opposition plan is to garner at least 65 per cent of the votes in perceived battlegrounds and make inroads on Jubilee turf.
Among the battlegrounds marked by NASA as potential strongholds are Kajiado and Narok.
The Raila team is also eying substantial votes in Meru and the South Rift.
“The technocrats are being very meticulous this time round. They are keen not to repeat the mistakes of 2013,” a source familiar with the details told the Star.
It is understood that after Raila’s nomination, NASA will stage its first rally in Nakuru –– a region largely considered to be Jubilee turf.
Siaya Senator James Orengo, his Machakos counterpart Johnson Muthama and Isiolo Deputy Governor Mohamed Gulled said they have evaluated the numbers and NASA “cannot lose to Jubilee”.
“There is no way Jubilee is going to win,” Orengo said, brimming with confidence.
“We have looked at the numbers in all ways and would like to assure Kenyans that we will win. We therefore owe it to all Kenyans to be vigilant and ensure that they have a level playing field to choose their preferred leaders at all levels – namely Presidential, parliamentary and county governance.”
Orengo disclosed that the team agreed on rolling out various campaign activities and that the diary will be ready before the end of this week.
Prominent businessmen, among them Jimmy Wanjigi and David Langat, are part of many affluent supporters that will help in the mobilisation of campaign cash.
Wanjigi was part of the delegates who attended Raila’s unveiling as the NASA flagbearer in Uhuru Park.
Langat, a major businessman at the Coast, is the head of the DL Group of Companies. He is believed to have fallen out with Deputy President William Ruto after the 2013 polls.
In the run-up to the last election, Raila held a series of fundraisers, including an exclusive Sh1-million-a-plate dinner, to mobilise funds.
According to the NASA political schedule, after Raila’s nomination tomorrow, the alliance will launch its manifesto.
“It will be a contract worth the signature of every Kenyan,” Raila promises.
The Pentagon will then hit the road for a gruelling presidential campaign that they say, “Will be like no other”.
“We shall take no county or village for granted. We will go to each of the 47 counties,” Raila vowed.
Muthama yesterday told the Star they, “Will scour every village to unseat Jubilee”.
“We are ready and prepared for campaigns in every corner of this country. Preparations are in very high gear. As Raila said, it will be a campaign like none other that has ever taken place in this country,” Muthama concluded.