The three NASA principals who set up Raila for failure by swearing himself in. [Photo/ NTV Kenya]
It is now clear that the NASA coalition, as we know it, has come to an abrupt end.
This follows a well-scripted betrayal of leader Raila Odinga, by co-principals Kalonzo Musyoka, Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetangula, who have reportedly been plotting the total destruction of the ODM boss.
In Tuesday’s ‘swearing-in’ ceremony, which had been planned for months, the three leaders, who want to wipe Raila away from the political scene in Kenya, pretended to be part of it until the last minute.
When Raila was ready to proceed to Uhuru Park for the event, which lawyers and political analysts had agreed amounted to committing treason, the three leaders switched off their phones, leaving the opposition leader high and dry.
It appears they have been urging him to be suicidal by agreeing to be sworn in as the president, which is punishable by death under the Kenyan law, as a way of eliminating him and inherit his political support.
If comments by some ODM lawmakers, such as Millie Odhiambo and Otiende Amolo, are anything to go by, then it is clear the ODM side has been planning to end NASA as a coalition, so that they don’t have to support either Kalonzo or Mudavadi in the 2022 presidential election.
Under the 2017 pre-election agreement, Raila was to support any of the other three NASA principals for the top seat in 2022. But ODM elected leaders have made it clear that they do not owe anyone any political debt.
“I knew today was going to be an AMAZING and DECISIVE day going forward,” Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo, a diehard Raila supporter, wrote on her Facebook page immediately after the ‘swearing-in’.
“I have exhaled. 2022=No obligations. No Kurudisha mkono,” she added.
Wiper leader Kalonzo, who agreed to be Raila’s running mate in 2013 and 2017 on the promise that the ODM leader will back him in 2022, will now have to leave the coalition, or be forced out.
Mudavadi and Wetangula will not equally rely on Raila to support their presidential bids. It is back to the drawing board for all the key politicians in the opposition.