NASA leader Raila Odinga. [Photo/nation.co.ke]
The rejection that NASA leader Raila Odinga has faced from the people of Kenya and foreigners show that his political career has fallen, political scientist Mutahi Ngunyi has said. During Raila’s recent trip to the United States, the analyst notes, the NASA boss did not meet any key leader. The tour, which has been described as a flop, showed that the West has changed heart in the way they view Raila. “Raila admitted that the audience during his only lecture is (in Washington) was littered with family and friends,” a political analyst in Prof Nyunyi’s Fort Hall School of Government says. “The Trump administration snapped him. He hurriedly met an assistant minister for African peoples. They showed him no respect.”The analysts argue, in the latest edition of The 5th Estate, that when Raila was prime minister, he held long meetings with then-Vice President Joe Biden in the White House. “This time, Raila met only one senator and a PA (personal assistant) to a disinterred MP,” lawyer J.M says, adding that the meetings Raila planned in London after leaving the US were all cancelled.“Put simply, the West has rejected Raila. They have no time for a warlord whose only currency for political transaction is violence. They are sticklers for rule of law and constitutional order.”The ODM leader’s most painful rejection is from the people, according to the political analysts, who cite the failure of 1 million people showing up at the airport on Friday to receive him. “He asked for 1 million people to risk their lives at the airport. Instead, he got about 900 people. And this is a reflection of his 0.9 vote in the October election,” another analyst says.