On Friday, National Super Alliance (NASA) leader Raila Odinga met President Uhuru Kenyatta at his Harambee offices where the two leaders resolved to work together for the unity and progress of the country. The meeting comes amidst a backdrop of disagreements concerning the August 2017 elections.
However, Raila's supporters might feel disenfranchised from the meeting. They may feel the hard work put before and after 2017 elections have gone down the drain. All along, NASA has maintained that it won the August elections and have even released figures to back up the allegations of their win.
Raila's meeting with Uhuru might have rubbed his supporters the wrong way. Just before the August elections, the opposition engaged the electoral body, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), in endless wrangles and maintained that free and fair elections can only be achieved through certain reforms.
The confrontation was again renewed when the Supreme Court annulled Uhuru's August win and called for a fresh election. NASA supporters demonstrated numerous times and when IEBC maintained its ground, Raila pulled out of the fresh presidential race held in October.
The agitation for another election has been the call from the opposition and when no response came forth from IEBC nor the government, Raila took a controversial oath and branded himself the people's president.
NASA supporters might feel cheated as they invested heavily in engaging in demonstrations, boycotts and a controversial oath only for their leader to make a u-turn on his initial stand concerning Uhuru's presidency. The supporters might also question what quickly changed between the constant call for electoral justice and Raila's acknowledgement of Uhuru's presidency.
If by any chance Raila decides to run again in 2022, then he might face the same electoral injustice he has been citing. This will be attributed to the lack of action against the cited electoral problems.