Raila Odinga. [Photo/ Daily Nation]
It is now clear that NASA presidential candidate Raila Odinga does not want to face President Uhuru Kenyatta in the Supreme Court-ordered rerun of the elections on October 17, 2017. Raila, who lost to President Kenyatta by more than 1.4 million votes in last month’s general election, wanted IEBC — an independent body — to (illegally) consult him in setting up the date for the polls. President Kenyatta, in the meantime, has welcomed IEBC’s announcement of the date, insisting that he is ready to beat the ODM leader by more than 3 million votes. Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i had raised concerns that with about 1 million children set to sit for national exams from late October, it would be wise to conduct the elections earlier so as not to inconvenience the students, who are already anxious about KCPE and KCSE papers. IEBC, which must conduct the fresh elections within 60 days since the Supreme Court ruling, considered the welfare of the students when coming up with the new date. What is shocking is that Raila wants the electoral body to conduct the elections when students are supposed to be sitting for their exams. “There is no harm in pushing exams for two weeks. The children are not going to die,” Raila said, showing how little he cares about the future of Kenyan children. The ODM leader, who has lost four presidential elections, has created a list of impossible demands which he wants the Wafula Chebukati-led commission to meet before he agrees to take part in the elections.“There will be no elections on the 17th unless these demands are met,” he said on Tuesday. It is important to note that there is no legal requirement for IEBC, which an independent organization, to consult with anyone before setting up a date for an election. If Mr Odinga is confident of his claims that he won the last elections, which is unlikely because his petition did not challenge the numbers that President Kenyatta beat him with, why is he not ready to face the Jubilee candidate again? As political analysts have said, what the NASA candidate wants is to create a constitutional crisis by not holding elections within 60 days, which will lead to the creation of a caretaker government. But that will not happen.