Nobody wants to be subjected to embarrassment and humiliation, and it is only logical that they would do whatever they can to avoid such scenarios.
The stakes are even higher if one has spent decades building an image and positioning himself as a force in the political scene.
Once you learn that you are prone to humiliation, you work up and down to stop it by all means even if it’s by shunning away from meaningful events.
It should be understandable, therefore why CORD leader Raila Odinga choose to skip his coalition co-principal Moses Wetangula’s presidential bid launch, instead opting to visit his longtime friend and President of Tanzania John Pombe Magufuli.
There can be countless explanations as to why the ODM leader gave the event a wide berth but one thing is for sure, he did so to avoid facing humiliation.
It would have been disconcerting for the man behind the revelation of numerous corruption scandals in government including the loss of millions at the NYS and apparent loss of over 20 billion in Eurobond, to be heckled or came face to face with protesting youth donned in his ODM party colours or witness a clash between supporters of CORD affiliated parties.
It is hard to imagine what the event would have turned into, had the teargas been lobbed at the podium with Raila present. Ugly scenes would have ensured, not just because of the security risks involved but the position that Raila Odinga commands in Kenyan and by extension African politics.
This is not to say that Wetangula and his fellow CORD co-principal Kalonzo Musyoka are lesser leaders in CORD, No. It just means that Raila irrefutably holds most of the cards in the coalition and the opposition front.
It is for this reason that Raila skipped the event.
Needless to say, though, it is time for CORD leaders to tame their lieutenants and whip their supporters into submission instead of skipping their ‘troubled’ events.