[President Uhuru Kenyatta and NASA leader Raila Odinga. Uhuru beat Odinga in Nyamira County, a key NASA stronghold. Photo/standard]
The shock defeat of NASA presidential candidate Raila Odinga by President Uhuru Kenyatta in Nyamira County was one of the biggest upsets of the August 8 elections.
During the 2013 elections, Raila edged out Uhuru in the battle for Nyamira. And ahead of the 2017 contest, there were telltale signs that it was not going to be an easy ride for the former Prime Minister in the race for the county’s over 270,000 votes.
The appointment of Dr. Fred Matiang’i to Uhuru’s cabinet at the start of his tenure in 2013 is seen by many as the beginning of the Jubilee coup in the region.
And to further compound Odinga’s agony in the county was the appointment of Justice David Maraga to be the country’s Chief Justice in 2016.
Though the President had no direct influence in his appointment, but it earned him some political capital.
With some few months remaining to the August 8 polls, Uhuru’s Jubilee Party had shown insatiable appetite to make inroads in key Odinga strongholds with Nyamira being one of the targeted regions.
Uhuru and his lieutenants made numerous numbers of trips to the county which is home to ODM’s stalwart Timothy Bosire with the President using development as a platform to springboard his political ambitions. And in one of his campaign rallies, Uhuru claimed that he had appointed Justice Maraga as the Chief Justice and as such, the region should vote for him.
After the August 8 polls, it was Uhuru who had spoiled Odinga’s party in the region having won majority of the votes with his party further winning some MP seats.
For Odinga, it was a bad experience as he lost to Uhuru in his own key stronghold. To further compound his agony, his ODM party failed to win any MP seat.