Elected leaders in this country are the most insecure people on God’s planet.
I suspect that they routinely hear non-existent sounds in the bushes and run into a panic, thinking aliens from outer space have arrived to take their seats.
One of their favourite pastimes is carving out perceived spheres of influence where people shouldn’t visit without their express permission. An example is a recent incident where ODM secretary general Edwin Sifuna went for a function in Nairobi, and the party’s county chairman George Aladwa, a junior of the SG by party office and all possible rankings, threw a massive tantrum over being “bypassed”.
Science and common sense are yet to find the particular democratic principle that requires a party’s secretary general to seek permission from lower cadres before visiting party members.
But Aladwa is on record having also stated that he would not support Westlands MP Tim Wanyonyi for Nairobi governor, even though he is the only person so far from his party to have declared interest in the gubernatorial seat, just as Sifuna is the only one from ODM to have cemented his intention to seek the Senate seat in Nairobi.
In the case of Aladwa and Nairobi politics, you can safely summarise that if it quacks like a duck, there surely must be something to gain from fighting his party’s best chances to bag county seats, so it certainly is a duck!
The second most insecure beings around must be non-elected aspirants, with an eye on the 2022 polls. For some reason, this group believes that the first group is permanently scheming with party “owners” to lock them out of party primaries and deny them the tickets which they believe only they deserve.
When aspirants and elected leaders meet at a public rally, be sure it is going to be a spectacle of huge proportions, as was evident at ODM boss Raila Odinga’s presidential launch two weeks ago. Both groups can be shocking by their lack of a sense of presence
As far as presidential campaigns go, you would take it for granted that those around the former PM know and appreciate the magnitude of this particular one.
It is not only his best shot of all five, but the presence of state machinery around it, and support from very unlikely quarters, make it the most national of all his runs. This combination will invite extreme scrutiny, making the smallest gaffes big news.
There is no better place to start that scrutiny than the sitting arrangement at the VVIP section. With regard to Raila’s cracking of the political code across the country, none catches the eye more than the support from Mt Kenya bigwigs and members of the Cabinet.
Anyone placed in charge of the aesthetics of the function would have known that on top of having media mogul SK Macharia, the next best thing would have been to surround the boss with faces like governors Francis Kimemia, James Nyoro, Ndiritu Muriithi and Lee Kinyanjui, as well as the seven Cabinet secretaries who attended.
A show of power injects confidence in any campaign, and none appeals to the political enzymes of the grassroots than the presence of state power and newly conquered territories. However, a quick glance at the podium showed the “usual suspects” had allocated themselves the prime seats. There were even former governors, senators and MPs, while crucial allies such as Governor Muriithi couldn’t even be seen at first, for their introduction session, because they were seated in the more obscure sections of the podium. Clearly, palace courtiers never know when to take a back seat and let the boss shine in the glory of new conquests.
The next point of concern was in the crowd. Kasarani was the hottest ticket in town, an extravaganza that should have achieved a level of sanctity for all Azimio adherents. It beats me why elected leaders and aspirants, some whose constituencies are in the farthest corners of the country, needed to transport placard-waving and chanting supporters to the venue.
The mad desire to be seen as very popular often blurs the sense of occasion. I am not sure what political capital one gains from his rowdy supporters drunkenly disrupting the most important function of his party or coalition’s presidential candidate.
In fact, I submit that given the emergence of Raila as a candidate for several parties within his Azimio coalition, candidates for lower seats will gain very little moving forward, by coming to his rallies with supporters in tow, because they will be reminded repeatedly that the presidential campaign is a national function and will not entertain the divisions brought by aspirants for lower seats.
This will become even more important given that parties within the coalition will predictably compete for certain seats below president. I can bet my last cent that many aspirants planning to use presidential campaign rallies to push their own agenda will not as much as get a chance to wave.
I cannot end without mentioning the one incident Raila’s opponents harped on to paint the event in bad light: The alleged harassment of Maragua MP Mary Wamaua.
To be fair, the phenomenon of overenthusiastic youths taking over events or demanding cash handouts from leaders is prevalent in all political parties, without exception. Don’t be surprised that they see themselves as “commandos” and protectors of the party “throne”.
Beyond the pushing and shoving at the gates, these youths are largely harmless, and it is a huge stretch to suggest that they can determine the ideology or the governance principles of any political movement.
I was amused, but not entirely surprised, when Wamaua’s response to these youths was “How will you behave when you get to State House?” You can see the tribal slur in that sentence from thousands of miles away.
As part of the narrative that paints Raila black, even the enthusiasm of party youths has to be linked to his ability to govern, which is really a load of hogwash. If there were any security issues at the function, we should have placed them squarely at the doors of the Kasarani OCPD. He must have been aware of the magnitude of the event he was hosting, and should have asked for more policemen, if he needed them.
Most certainly, Wamaua should have headed there to report the characters who harassed her because no party that wants power would entertain ruffians shoving VIPs at its events. Be that as it may, it is imperative for those who work with, or surround the former PM, to come to terms with the heavy responsibility fate has thrown at them.
It is a delicate operation whichever way you look at it from. But because Raila heads into this election as the state’s preferred candidate, statecraft demands that everything around him starts to look like an operation ready enough to enter State House.
This message must be passed on to aspirants and sitting elected leaders; this is much bigger than them, so they have to support the boss without carrying their village squabbles and noise to his functions. Serenity is the middle name of presidential transitions.