Dennis Onyango: Why Raila's State House bid failed five times

Dennis Onyango during a past interview/FILE

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga's aide Dennis Onyango has attributed Raila's repeated failures in presidential elections to what he described as a reluctance to appreciate the influence of foreign interests in Kenya's politics.

Speaking during an interview on Citizen TV on Sunday night, Onyango claimed Raila's biggest political weakness was his refusal to fully acknowledge that Kenya's political and economic realities are closely intertwined with the interests of powerful international actors.

According to Onyango, Raila believed strongly in pursuing an independent political path, but this sometimes put him at odds with external players whose support or acceptance could influence political outcomes.

While acknowledging Kenya's sovereignty, Onyango said major political actors cannot afford to ignore the interests and perceptions of influential foreign governments and international institutions.

"I believe they do have a say here. I believe you can't entirely ignore them," he said.

In regards to the 2007 General Election, although Onyango was not working for Raila by then, he said he believes the ODM leader emerged victorious in the vote.

"I think he won. I think he won the election," Onyango said of the disputed 2007 presidential contest between Raila and then late President Mwai Kibaki.

The former aide, however, argued that beyond the 2007 election, Raila's broader political challenge over the years was his approach to international relations and diplomacy.

"The only thing in that election, and I think it is a thing that he never internalised throughout his political career and which I think was actually his biggest weakness, is the refusal to understand that this country is not really independent," Onyango said.

Onyango said he repeatedly tried to convince Raila that winning over Kenyan voters alone was not enough for a presidential candidate seeking to govern in a globally interconnected environment.

"You need to sell yourself to Kenyans, but also sell yourself to the external world and assure them that they can do business with you," he said.

To illustrate his point, Onyango recalled Raila's trip to the United Nations in 2009 when he was serving as Prime Minister in the Grand Coalition government.

He said tensions within the coalition government extended beyond Kenya and even affected diplomatic engagements abroad.

According to Onyango, sections of Kenya's diplomatic establishment in the United States sought to undermine Raila's visit by leaking stories suggesting he would not secure a meeting with the then US President.

"I later realised that the stories were coming from our own diplomatic representation in the US and they were supposed to undermine Raila," Onyango said.

He described the episode as one of the most challenging assignments he had handled while working for Raila.

While Raila's supporters have often blamed electoral irregularities and political interference for his defeats, Onyango's assessment points to what he views as a strategic weakness in Raila's approach to international power dynamics.