NASA leader Raila Odinga with former South Africa President the late Nelson Mandela. [Photo/standardmedia.co.ke]
It is an oft-told saga that of the king whose time is up but he will neither acknowledge it nor give way gracefully.
This saga is as old as history. Normally, the saga starts with the king who has had untrammeled rule over his subjects. His every word has been law.
But as time goes by and opposition against the king builds, he resorts to ever harsher and desperate measures to keep his subjects subjugated. As he loses grip, the crowd around him thins and he is left with a few hardliners who keep giving him the wrong advice.
Finally, the king is left isolated in a world of his own where he still reigns supreme. As his empire collapses around him, he becomes more strident. His pronouncements become more outrageous until finally, it all crumbles in a heap around him.
One is left with a feeling of déjà vu when looking at what is happening around the NASA leader, Raila Odinga.
Raila has been a colossus bestriding Kenya for many years. He has grown to become a huge menacing force who has many times used the spirit of fear and intimidation to get his way. But times change and dynamics shift. Unfortunately for him, the ground has shifted significantly. The huge democratic space that was created by the Constitution has largely eliminated the causes for which he built his bona fides, fighting for democracy.
The first manifestation of this drastic shift came after the August 8, 2017, election. The NASA brigade tried very hard to cause an eruption through all manner of outrageous utterances and shenanigans. There were no takers. Indeed, the only violence that took place was clashes between protestors and the police in Kibera and Mathare in Nairobi, and majorly Kisumu in Nyanza. The rest of the country was quiet. To date, the country remains largely peaceful despite all the tension NASA has generated.
The demos were a spectacular failure. Each time, Raila would announce “the mother of all demos,” only to have a small crowd of protestors in Nairobi who were quickly dispersed and the usual stone throwers in Kisumu. The rest of the country simply ignored all demos. Finally, NASA had to call them off.
Raila still has a chance to redeem this whole thing, and still turn it to his advantage. And Kenyans are a forgiving lot. He still has a chance to “release” Kenya to the future. He can still assume the high road of one of Africa’s greatest statesmen, Nelson Mandela, or go down in ignominy like so many others all over the world who have failed to recognize that the time for old-fashioned tactics to gain and keep power has passed.