NASA presidential candidate Raila Odinga. He may lose to Uhuru Kenyatta in the October elections. [Photo/kenya-today.com]In September, the Supreme Court annulled the presidential election results and ordered IEBC to carry out a fresh election. However, President Kenyatta has started his campaigns on a high note despite the setback. He has been able to cut a niche for himself in the opposition's strongholds and wooed some of NASA's leaders to his Jubilee party.
The country's political system advocates for an individual to consolidate his own strongholds before raiding his opponent's areas for more votes. This is what President Kenyatta has done. Before the August elections, Jubilee raided Western, South Nyanza (mainly Kisii and Nyamira), some parts of Rift Valley and North Eastern for vote hunting and it paid off. The party got MCAs, MPs, Women Reps, Senators, and Governors in numbers. The Jubilee party was able to upset NASA in their own areas.
And on Monday, the president entertained Ukambani leaders in State House followed by another meeting on Wednesday with Abagusi leaders where they all agreed to support his presidential re-election ambition in October.
Now this is a dent to Raila Odinga who wishes to unseat Jubilee from power. Having lost a considerable number of seats to Jubilee in August and the current declaration by the Ukambani and Abagusi leaders clearly indicates a win for Jubilee once again in October.
An election is all about numbers and Jubilee is expertly accumulating the numbers. It should also not be forgotten that NASA's main gain from Jubilee, both ex-governors Isaac Ruto and Peter Munya, made u-turns and resorted to support Uhuru Kenyatta. As Raila concentrates on sanitizing IEBC, he should remember to gel his house or ultimately face the reality of losing again to Uhuru Kenyatta.