Poll results debate rekindled as new book says Raila won

His conduct at election time and after, and the alacrity with which he entered a coalition with President Kibaki are pointed out as telling.

The third scheme to scuttle Mr Odinga’s journey to State House, claims the writer, was by preventing him from being elected a member of Parliament for Lang’ata constituency. For a candidate to be elected president, he or she must be an elected MP.

When all these schemes fell through, claims Osewe, it became necessary to play the last card - use the ECK to manipulate the result.
Power sharing

Mr Odinga and his party have publicly insisted that they won the election but had to accede to power sharing as a way of ensuring peace.

The book is likely to readily face criticism for its lack of rigour. Critics will capitalise on the opacity of the methods the author used to study his subject, and the apparent lack of peer refereeing and editorial review to tear down his work.

The factual and typographical errors in the book, perhaps resulting from a lack of intimate familiarity with the subject, detract severely from the authority of the work.

Matters are not helped much by the fact that the publisher, iVisby AB, does not appear to be well-known, let alone respected for publishing in English. The writer uses political epithets that could easily annoy people who do not share his persuasion.

Osewe’s background as an investigator is not apparent - from the public record and the book.