NRM leader Raila Odinga on Tuesday. [Photo/ NASA Coalition]
NASA leader Raila Odinga is set to be sentenced to death by hanging if he goes ahead with his plan to swear himself in as the president of Kenya. Raila’s announcement of the fatal mistake he is about to make came just hours after President Uhuru Kenyatta, whose October 26 decisive victory was upheld by the Supreme Court, was sworn in at Kasarani Stadium to start his second term. Lawyers and political analysts agree that if Raila swears himself in as the president, he will have committed treason, whose punishment under the Kenyan laws is death by hanging. Unlike in the 1982 failed coup, which Raila has admitted playing a key role in, the Judiciary is now fully independent. Anyone who takes part in another coup is likely to be given the capital punishment. Those who planned the 1982 coup with Raila were sentenced to death by hanging, but the undue influence of Jaramogi Odinga (Kenya’s first vice president and Raila's father) in the Judiciary saw Raila only get a jail term of 8 years. And now that President Kenyatta has the executive powers of the head of state, he is not likely to tolerate Raila’s disruptive chaos in smooth the running of the country. Kenyans have already said they are tired with the prolonged election period, and want to move on with their lives. Already, too many innocent people have died every time Raila has called on his National Resistance movement (NRM) militia to go to the streets. The people now expect the president to protect them against the ODM leader’s unending violence. If Raila thinks nothing will be done to him when he commits treason, he is in for a rude shock. Under the 2010 constitution, no one — including the president — is above the law. We are all operating under the same laws. It is a pity that Raila, who never seems to learn from his mistakes, has accepted to be led to his death by the same selfish politicians who set him up for failure when they pushed him to withdraw from the October 26 presidential elections.