Azimio leader Raila Odinga is a man who has never wrapped his mind around a defeat. That's why he finds it so hard to congratulate the person he competes with-not once, not twice.
In fact, the message he passes across to his supporters during campaigns is that he's infallible making it impossible for them to reconcile with a defeat as a fact. Many end up in depression every time elections end.
Now, for the uninitiated, the first round of Azimio demos flopped badly having been confined to areas where one community dominates. It is only Nairobi that was lending it some credence due to its social, economic and political centrality both regionally and internationally.
Even then it was only in Kibra and Mathare, with the rest waiting to host the Azimio brigade when they went calling.
The planned second wave of protests is therefore an attempt to undo the damage caused to their egos after a big number of county chiefs refused to swallow the bait. With only four governors from Luo Nyanza heeding their first call, Azimio may want to cajole the rest in their camp to make some show.
Already, the first one painted Raila as a leader whose command has shrank to ridiculous levels. But it won't be an easy gamble because the government knows exactly what Raila, and in extension Azimio's, real intentions are: Wreck the economy and cause social and political unrest. Even the defiance by former President Uhuru Kenyatta to go against the grain is in furtherance of this cause, weird as it may seem.
I’m inclined to a school of thought that Raila and Azimio’s gripe is not about the plight of ordinary Kenyans but the few oligarchs who feel the pinch of a government intent on rationalising the way things run and disrupting their modus operandi.
Otherwise, Raila would have demanded major reforms when he worked with Uhuru for five years. He instead became the chief apologist of the regime, at one time terming those who were complaining about the high cost of living barking as though they were not aware there was a war going on in Ukraine.
Their protests will put-paid for any chance of bipartisan talks. The government on its side might quickly rejig the IEBC selection panel, which was not wound down when the President extended the olive branch.
Economic and political analyst
