Raila should just endorse Uhuru for the 2017 poll to save country cash

Cord leader Raila Odinga (left) with Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi at Watamu after Mr Odinga's arrival on October 5, 2016. He has never ceased to take credit for foisting Mr Mwai Kibaki on the nation as the National Rainbow Coalition candidate in 2002. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NATION MEDAI GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Mr Kenyatta will win the election by a landslide. It is needless for him to be put through the rigmarole of an expensive election.
  • Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi is confident that if Mr Odinga endorsed him, he would be waking up in State House.

All indications are that President Uhuru Kenyatta will win the 2017 presidential election.

Opinion polls have predicted it, opposition political leaders have seen it, and Kenyans know it.

After being tyrannised by numbers in 2013 General Election, perennial presidential runner-up Raila Odinga does not seem to have learnt his lesson.

By the time the voter rolls closed in March this year, his likely supporters were not the majority of those trooping to polling centres to register.

If anything, the number of registered voters in the areas that traditionally support the President have risen. Were there to be a rematch, Mr Odinga would be beaten like a drum.

Going by the number of registered voters, and the inroads the President has made into opposition territory through defections and other legitimate acts of political persuasion, the next election will be an exercise in democratic formality. It is all over, bar the shouting.

Mr Kenyatta will win the election by a landslide. It is needless for him to be put through the rigmarole of an expensive election.

Yet, the 2017 presidential election is expected to cost Kenyans Sh40 billion.

This is where Mr Odinga should seriously consider seizing the opportunity to be a statesman by endorsing Mr Kenyatta’s election.

As it were, Mr Odinga is a practised endorser of presidential candidates.

He has never ceased to take credit for foisting Mr Mwai Kibaki on the nation as the National Rainbow Coalition candidate in 2002.

Since then, numerous presidential candidates have been pining for Mr Odinga’s endorsement to capture the presidency.

Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi is confident that if Mr Odinga endorsed him, he would be waking up in State House; Wiper Democratic Movement boss Kalonzo Musyoka is certain he would be Kenya’s fifth president if Mr Odinga only gave him the nod; and Ford Kenya leader Moses Wetang’ula is piqued that he is not being picked for the top job.

LET GO
Mr Odinga has run the most popular party for the past 10 years, but his coalition partners and governors elected on his party’s ticket are deserting him in droves.

There is really no need for Mr Odinga to be reminded that he is no longer a government official; that he has no entitlements to use the VIP lounges at the airports; that he can no longer enter the airside with his vehicles; that he cannot drive around in official limousines with a chase car, police with siren and armed guard.

The last time Mr Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto avoided a run-off election in the presidential race in 2013, the Sh6 billion saved was enough to finance the special fund for youth, put to great work in the slum upgrading and empowerment of women.

Given the President’s record with delivering beyond the expectations of all Kenyans, he should be allowed to pick his team of Members of Parliament, governors, senators, and other people willing to work with the government to deliver development.

Avoiding an unnecessary presidential election could save the country up to Sh40 billion, which would be enough to supply every Standard One child with a tablet.

Kenyans are averse to the instability of elections and the unnecessary expenses that accompany them; and they are alive to the divisions that political competition engenders.

For his troubles, Mr Odinga could be allowed to retire peacefully as an elder statesman at the African Union, with full access to the VIP lounge, the airport airside and other dignities accruing to him.