NRM chief Raila Odinga. [Photo/zipo.co.ke]
NASA leader Raila Odinga has now made it clear that he wants Kenya to have a six-month transitional government, which will allow him to control half of the interim administration. But this wishful thinking will not happen in the country. There is no crisis in Kenya. IEBC conducted a fresh presidential election, as ordered by the Supreme Court, and President Uhuru Kenyatta won more than 98% of the votes cast. Having met all the requirements needed for one to be declared president-elect, the only standing between President Kenyatta and being sworn in are the pending petitions at the Supreme Court, which will be decided in less than two weeks. Raila, knowing that he stood no chance against President Kenyatta — after losing by more than 1.4 million votes in the August 8 election — decided to conveniently boycott the fresh election, disobeying the court order. Six other candidates stayed in the race and competed against President Kenyatta for the State House job. If the NRM leader thinks that President Kenyatta was not validly elected, he should use constitutional means to challenge IEBC’s declaration. And that only means going to court, as any Kenyan would. Having been listed as a respondent in one of the petitions, he should use that opportunity to argue his case.There is simply no path that leads to the formation of a transitional government, which many see as a “nusu mkate government”. That will be disobeying the sovereign will of the people of Kenya, who made their intentions known on October 26 when they overwhelmingly chose President Kenyatta to take the country forward. It is good that Raila has finally revealed his intentions — of getting into government through the back door and not the ballot — his suggestion for the formation of an interim administration is as good as dead. Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen has made it clear that Kenya is not in any political crisis."Kenya is not a failed state, we have a Constitution that has not collapsed. It is wishful thinking of Tinga (Raila) to imagine Kenya is in political crisis,” Senator Murkomen. "You can see the country is calm and the Supreme Court will make its decision in 11 days. So the crisis Raila is talking about is a figment of his fertile imagination,” he added, as quoted by The Star.