By OSCAR OBONYO
What started off as a friendly match between a captain and his deputy has now turned into a vicious knockout tournament. Now either of the players â Prime Minister Raila Odinga or his deputy Musalia Mudavadi â must be bundled out of the game.
This is the tragedy of what was meant to be a routine practice between the ODM players ahead of the main match in the General Election. According to a top ODM politician who is privy to the secret pact between Raila and Mudavadi, the "mock fight" was meant to achieve two key objectives.
Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi (centre) speaks after he held strategy talks with Western MPs last week. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]
"To ease pressure on Mudavadi from his Luhya kinsmen, who were calling on him to go for the top seat, it was agreed that this time around he should not be given the running mate slot on a silver platter, but must be seen to fight for the top prize. And by splitting camps, the idea was to help popularise ODM countrywide," says the politician, who cannot be named for purposes of confidentiality on the deal.
Partisan stand
But because their supporters were unaware of the "friendly match" pact, they took a partisan stand and cheered the players on. And the foot soldiers of the two shot themselves in the foot by pouring fuel to the already burning fire, through venomous public outbursts.
"It is now a high tempered match that has acquired a life of its own. The danger with this is that even the players themselves are no longer in control of the tempo of the game. Nobody for sure knows the gravity of injuries, once the final whistle is blown," says the politician.
Speaking a couple of days ago in Ugenya, Siaya County, during the funeral of National Cohesion and Integration Commission vice-chair, Mary Onyango, Public Service Minister Dalmas Otieno seemed to allude to the said pact, and even accused the Sabatia MP of contravening the "rules of the game".
"When we agreed that the deputy party leader should be released to campaign separately, the whole idea was to help popularise the party. But instead, he opted to foster personal interests," protested the minister.
But it is now too late to set the record straight as the fans have already invaded the pitch in a free for all brawl. And because Mudavadi is assumedly guilty of breaking rules of the friendly match, he is likely to leave the club.
"Even if he wanted to remain in ODM, Mudavadi has already exhibited his other tough side that the PM might not have known. He has to move on or risk giving Raila a chance for revenge," says Prof Frank Matanga of Masinde Muliro University.
