Opposition leader Raila Odinga is a man who likes many
things. He likes big cars, and flashy clothes. He likes to talk politics, he
loves fame. He loves propaganda and more than anything he loves cameras. That I
suppose is alright, to each his own.
But the ODM leader also loves anarchy and
has an exaggerated passion for destruction, if he cannot have it, no one else
will.
November last
year, Raila Odinga kicked off a campaign telling his dangerously over-zealous
supporters that Mwai Kibaki's government was intent on rigging the December
elections. He talked of some rigging clerks being trained at Anniversary
Towers' (fourteenth floor) by an
imaginary man he assigned the name ‘Mr. Chege". A few weeks later, he
stormed the Ngong Hills hotel claiming to have received a tip-off from an aide
of his that ballot papers were being filled in there. On the Election Day itself,
he stormed the Electoral Commission's offices claiming that his name was not on
the Lang'ata Constituency voter register. All these little sideshows had two
things in common; one, they were all proved to be unfounded and two, all the
allegations were made in the presence of the press, under flashing lights and into microphone booms.
All these cleverly
calculated theatrics were to tune the minds of his excitable supporters just right, so that
when defeat eventually came, they would have in their crania 'sound
reasons' for doing what perhaps comes to them most naturally - going on the rampage. I am not
in any way suggesting that ODM members do not believe the election was stolen
and are engaging in violence for the sake it, no. I know they believe the
election was rigged because they had been all set and prepared for it. The
truth of the matter is that, with or without rigging the only outcome that
would have saved Kenya
from this violence was a victory for Raila Odinga. That is how much Raila Odinga likes violence, and his history stretching way back to the coup attempt he so glibly boasts about in his biography affirms just that.
But there is
something else, besides violence that Raila Odinga appears keen to adopt; a
false sense of importance. Displaying pictures taken with Barrack Obama to the
press, claiming before the world that Barrack is his cousin are some of the more
dramatic and vicariously humiliating scenes we have been subjected to.
Last year Raila
likened himself to former South African President Nelson Mandela and believe it or not he also said he was like the Christ. This weekend he was in church once again calling himself Jesus Christ. He considers
Kalonzo Musyoka a Judas Iscariot who cannot chair a session where "Jesus
and his ‘pentagon' disciples are contributors". If you cannot attend a
meeting chaired by the Vice President, then whose meeting can you attend? Since
when did Kalonzo, the second longest serving elected Member of Parliament after
the president become a disciple of Raila Odinga's and therefore in refusing to follow his every footstep a betrayer?
The ODM MP really needs to improve himself, to stop being that tyrant who cannot contemplate that others have wills of their own, that they are individuals with autonomous desires, with their constituencies that they serve, and outside of his control. Raila must now stop protecting
his sense of omnipotence from the fear and vulnerability which surely rest at the heart of his compensatory delusions. He should start acknowledging
others, and respecting them before he can himself command any such acknowledgement and respect. He has to respect authority. Calling ECK
Commissioners "a few clerks seated at KICC" is not smart, it is not witty. It is
ridiculous.
On Tuesday, during the election of the National
Assembly Speaker, Mwai Kibaki reportedly did not speak to Raila. After the
session, Raila does what he knows best---Rush to ‘The Standard'. He said that the
President didn't even "greet him because he lacked the courage to do so".
Who between Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga should be striving to shake the
other's hand? It reminds me of a little story Dr. Justin Frank gives in his
"Bush on the couch". Frank talks about this little niece of his who
was once in a hotel lobby where President Ronald Reagan was staying. The
President picked up the little girl for the cameras and then put her down. Her
mother asked her whether she knew who that was. She answered; "Yes, but
how did he know who I was?" Now that is what I call an extreme form of
self-love and importance that Raila Odinga is thriving on.
Mr. Raila
there were so many other Members of Parliament whom the President did not talk
to. Why should you try to make it a big deal? Who do you think you are, Mr.
Raila?
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