[Opposition leader Raila Odinga.Photo/The Standard]
Raila Odinga’s struggle for the presidency has been made an impossible by the same people in his own camp. In the most recent and memorable presidential elections from 2007 to 2017, Raila Odinga has suffered basic loyalty from the very people he could proudly brag of having played a crucial part in making their names in the political arenas.
Towards the 2007 general presidential election, before former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, who was then a member of cabinet assembly, ditched the ODM party to form his own ODM-Kenya party which he used to run for president. Had he stuck by ODM under Odinga, the impact would have been huge. Kalonzo cost Raila presidency in 2007.
That was the time when Raila’s presidential dream started to crumble. Kalonzo became a distant third in the 2007 hotly contested election that saw the formation of a unity government between President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila with PNU and ODM parties respectively.
Between 2008 and 2013- Kibaki’s second term as president, Musalia Mudavadi deputized Raila as Deputy Prime Minister as he was an ODM member. William Ruto served from Agriculture minister to education minister. Come 2013, Raila suffered another major blow after Musalia Mudavadi split with ODM to run for president under Amani National Congress (ANC).
On the other hand, William Ruto, who was then serving as a cabinet minister, also decamped ODM to join forces with the then Deputy Prime Minister under PNU party, Uhuru Kenyatta to form The National Alliance (TNA) which ended up winning the 2013 presidential election. Therefore, Mudavadi and Ruto cost Raila presidency in 2013.
In 2017, the list of key political leaders in the opposition that ditched Raila at the hour of need is too far long to mention. It starts with Ababu Namwamba who had vowed to never have anything to do with the Jubilee party. More than 35 MPs governors crossed to the other side. Notably Wiper Democratic Movement Secretary-General Hassan Omar among others