Raila, Kalonzo had simply run out of options
Opposition leaders Raila Odinga (left) and Kalonzo Musyoka. Like Mr Odinga before him, Mr Musyoka would like to have everyone believe that his latest political somersault is an act in selflessness meant to foster national unity and even fight corruption. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Mr Musyoka might have initially come out as sore when he complained about having been kept in the dark about the March 9 deal.
- At one time he publicly expressed his willingness to have a meeting of his own with the President.
It is a testimony to how dull Kenya’s politics has become that Kalonzo Musyoka taking up a role as President Uhuru Kenyatta’s peace envoy in South Sudan last week was headline news.
No one who has keenly watched political events unfold in the country since the March 9 handshake between Mr Kenyatta and four-time presidential contender Raila Odinga can possibly say he or she didn’t see it coming.
Mr Musyoka, who was Mr Odinga’s running mate in the 2013 and 2017 elections, has consistently sent out feelers that he was available for a deal. The only surprise is that Mr Odinga got hitched first.
COURTED BY JUBILEE
In the run-up to the Handshake, speculation was rife that Mr Musyoka and two other principals in the opposition Nasa coalition — Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetang’ula — were the ones being actively courted by the ruling Jubilee Party.
The decision by the trio to skip the mock swearing-in of Mr Odinga as the so-called people’s president appeared to lend credence to such rumours.
The Uhuru Park ceremony had been marketed as some sort of a revolution moment by the Nasa people. But the quick about-turn by Mr Odinga now makes it look like a stage-managed extreme pimping-up ritual meant to push up the bride price ahead of a political ruracio with Mr Kenyatta’s clan.
HANDSHAKE
Mr Musyoka might have initially come out as sore when he complained about having been kept in the dark about the March 9 deal.
He never stopped flirting, though. At one time he publicly expressed his willingness to have a meeting of his own with the President.
At the weekend burial of his dad in Tseikuru, Mr Musyoka proudly declared that he was now the President’s mtu wa mkono (errand boy). A few days later, the Wiper Party leader was on a flight to South Sudan for an induction into his new peace envoy job, suggesting he finally got the chance to formalise his vows.
Like Mr Odinga before him, Mr Musyoka would like to have everyone believe that his latest political somersault is an act in selflessness meant to foster national unity and even fight corruption.
SURVIVAL TACTICS
Yet the backdrop against which both of them got to do deals points to survival tactics by politicians, long used to the trappings of power, who felt their personal comforts were no longer guaranteed in the opposition.
Both of them had their security detail withdrawn at one time or the other. One of them probably owes Kenyans a book telling the behind-the-scenes story of the 2017 election dispute, including the tense visit by a certain ruthless former administration police chief.
Both of them care about the fat retirement package, which has been tied to their political activities. In the case of Mr Musyoka, the old Yatta land matter is revisited whenever they find it convenient.
The former vice-president, like the former prime minister, simply ran out of options.
