Raila, most of your troops are not voters

Dear Raila Odinga, three Kenyans lost their lives last Monday as a result of incidents that were linked to the anti-IEBC demos which you called over a month ago.

As we prepare to bury the bodies, I am sure your supporters will blame the Government for their deaths but the sad truth is that you are partly to blame as you had powers to call off the demos to give dialogue a chance (as you did belatedly this week).

Your advisers are misleading you into thinking that IEBC commissioners can be simply evicted from Anniversary Towers, and then cease to be commissioners. I doubt they even report to work on Mondays. Nothing therefore is being achieved except giving the police a chance to test the new anti-riot gear.

The very Constitution that Kenyans voted for in 2010 — and which you fought hard for — must be defended so that never again will the demons of 2007/2008 be resurrected.

At 71 years, you are already an elder statesman and Kenyans respect you for campaigning for multi-party politics, and your anti-corruption stand. But seeing you on the frontline of the demonstrations being tear-gassed has many worried. The ‘enemy’ can take advantage of the chaos to cause you harm and blame the Government.

Election data projection clearly shows that CORD will have more than 10.3 million potential voters in 2017 against Jubilee’s nine million if 80 per cent registration is achieved.

While your supporters are demonstrating outside IEBC offices on Mondays, Jubilee supporters are registering from Tuesday to Friday. The very IEBC you wish to disband is the one you need to register your potential voters to win the 2017 elections in just 14 months’ time.

The voter registration will close by March 2017 and only 1 million new voters have been added to the 14.3 million registered in 2013 out of the eight million targeted. I am sure most of those young men taking part in the demos are not even registered as voters.

Kenya is bigger than any one person and we also have to think about the children who have yet to live a full life but are now worried if they will be able to go to school or be friends with Otis or Njoro in a peaceful Kenya after August 2017.