By Peter K’opiyo
The 2022 politics remain one of the fiercest presidential polls in Kenya’s political history. A student competing with his tutor, a mentor versus his mentee, friends turn foes, this time round separated by ideologies and interests.
The Ruto-Raila battle for the house on the hill got tougher as times went by escalating to the Supreme court after a narrow-gap defeat of the late Raila Odinga by his nemesis, William Ruto.
In the hotly contested elections, Ruto beat the late premier after garnering 7,176,141 votes against Odinga’s 6,942,930 votes which were 50.49% and 48.85% of total votes cast respectively.
Barely three months after his untimely demise, the race to try fit his shoes has made tongues wagging, everybody fighting for their relevance, space and proper positioning for the 2027 general elections.
In as much as we can loudly remember the voice of the late Raila’s chief agent, advocate of the high court, Saitabao Ole Kanchory claiming KICC had turned out to be a scene of crime, as time unfolds, there seems to be more than meets the eye.
Recently, there have been verbal confrontations with damning revelations, compelling claims, sensational accusations and strategic defense
The biggest question still remains; who is to blame? Who is to bear the burden? Or who made the late Raila Odinga lose the 2022 presidential elections?
Azimio chief agent Saitabao says it is Baba’s inner circle that sabotaged his golden dream of capturing the top most political seat in the country.
“Baba was a phenomenon. We had people who were willing to do anything for him. That system was bungled, sabotaged and collapsed by Junet Mohamed, Makau Mutua and Joe Mucheru,” declared Kanchory.
Saitabao in his declaration cites that those problems began from agent training prior to the elections after having selected their respective teams countrywide.
“We had a system where we put it down in constituencies where we would bring it to the constituency level and organise training. Which we did and that is where the problem started,” revealed Kanchory. “I realised they did not want the training and the entire system to work,” he stated.
ODM SG Edwin Sifuna. Photo/Courtesy
“When we started training agents, the problem started because money was not being released for venues, the list started changing; you send these people for training, others appear and instructions are coming from the top. We had a very good system, but there is no system that can withstand sabotage,” leaked Kanchory.
Well, the unbowed ODM secretary-general, Edwin Sifuna gave a tip of the iceburg on Junet too, and a quick rejoinder was fired back.
“Wewe ulikuwa unakula pesa ya Uhuru badala ulipe agents, ukawacha hawa wakina wamunyoro wakatupiga ten nil, saa hii tunalia huku nje. Kama sio wewe Junet tungekuwa kwa serikali,” revealed Sifuna while speaking at the sendoff of Embakasi North MP, James Gakuya’s mother.
In a furnace-hot come-back, the ODM’s director of campaign affairs didn’t mince his words too, distancing himself from the allegations.
“The answer is very simple, clear and verifiable: Former President Uhuru Kenyatta released the funds meant for election agents to his blood brother, Muhoho Kenyatta. Muhoho Kenyatta then appointed one Mr. Peter Mburu to take charge of the recruitment and payment of agents,” disclosed the National Assembly Minority leader.
He further revealed that the office from which Muhoho operated was so much restricted that not even the late Raila Odinga, the Azimio presidential candidate could gain free or easy access.
Furthermore, the Suna East MP divulged that agents’ payment and other logistics were all handled at the compacted offices he says were situated in Westlands, daring Uhuru and his brother Muhoho to rebut his sentiments.
If you thought Uhuru meant well for the late Raila Odinga, Junet’s remarks may prove you wrong, babbling that it was a long con game. So, who actually messed up Baba’s last bullet? Now we have two more entrants into the game; Uhuru and Muhoho.
“The fact is once they took charge, they never procured any agents for Raila Odinga, not in Mt. Kenya and not in Luo Nyanza. It was a long con game,” Junet gave away in his defense.
So far, we have Junet, Makau, Mucheru, Muhoho and Uhuru all accused of playing wrong cards to the late enigma. Cards that made the former premier die without tasting the fruits of his sweat that he viciously fought for - devolution.
“Unatupeleka kwa Uhuru Kenyatta, alishindwa kufanya Baba president akiwa na kila kitu,” stated the Suna East legislator.
Let us go back to Kanchory, take note; he has an endless list which he claims was generated by Makau Mutua and Joe Mucheru, as you read through, you may find your name in it too.
“They kept jumbling the names. We have vetted these ones, we will remove them, we need to replace them. In this area, we need this person to give us names. And this is happening now weeks to the elections. I call it in my book the endless list because every morning we had a new list,” disclosed Kanchory attributing the mismanagement of agents’ list to Makau Mutua and former ICT CS Joe Mucheru.
However, Kanchory terms the CEO of Raila Odinga Secretariat, Elizabeth Meyo, as the most hardworking and most diligent human being he has ever come across.
“I used to think I’m hardworking until I met her. I’ll leave her in the office at 1 am, when I get back to the office in the morning, I’ll still find her there,” stated the advocate of the high court.
“We had a trust-based system. We had all the names until we got to Westlands,” revealed Kanchory, while appearing on NTV’s Fixing the Nation show.
Westlands again, right? So, could it be that at some point Junet and Kanchory were on the same page in as much as Kanchory accuses Junet of “baba’s-boy syndrome” in some instances? Where was the list that kept changing originating from?
“We trained some of the agents, but because of the confusion, we did not train all of them. But remember the list is changing now. The worst part is, once we have trained them, a lot of the agents we trained are not the agents we actually had on the final day,” he emotionally recalled.
While on the morning show, Kanchory admitted that it was only him at the helm of managing agents’ procurement and logistics, disclosing that Junet Mohammed was the sole politician in Azimio who would create the regrettable mess.
“I would tell you this, there is no one who could have done this kind of mess at the top except Junet because he is the only one who could countermand me. He is the one who kept coming with a new list to the secretariat; to Elizabeth Meyo specifically,” disclosed Kanchory.
Suna East MP Junet Mohamed on the campaign trail. Photo/Courtesy
He goes ahead to reveal that Joe Mucheru had a hand in the predicament, adding that he proposed a "general" he termed a logistician to manage the affairs of the campaign team, but his preference was sidelined, with a "good lady" whom he says did nothing being brought days later.
"We needed a logistician, I proposed a gentleman who I knew was someone who would have handled it with military precision. I said that because I knew the guy and even them, they knew him. I told them we have general so and so. He is a logistician and can handle any situation. I think you can vet him and let's see whether he can do the logistics. After two to three days, I came and found that some good lady had been brought by Mucheru," he disclosed, noting that either she knew nothing, or was under instructions not to do anything.
Where do these allegations leave the status of elections management in the country as we prepare for another electioneering period, which is gradually gaining momentum.
It is true Kenyans came out in large numbers to vote for their preferred candidates, but it is also true that in some regions, Nyanza included, the voter turn-out was low. Others have attributed Raila’s loss to voter apathy.
With the new damning revelations, what could be the real cause of the late ODM Party leader’s defeat by President William Ruto in the last poll? The voters, IEBC officials, State machinery and deep state or Azimio campaign officials?
And having seen the fruit of the dalliance between Uhuru and Raila, now what should Kenyans expect of the new political marriage that Raila left behind after making the base broad government with President Ruto?