Raila is bad for economy? He should have been forgotten were it not Uhuru's bad leadership

Politically speaking, opposition leader Raila Odinga is past his ‘sell-by’ date. Let’s face it; he is a spent force. Were it not for President Uhuru Kenyatta’s lying, corrupt and tribal government, Agwambo would be history. Uhuru’s poor leadership, especially the wanton looting of public funds under his watch, is what has given Raila a political lifeline.

Just the other day, Uhuru tried to divert attention from the mega corruption scams plaguing his administration by claiming Raila is bad for the economy. If you ask some economists, they will say he probably is. Keeping the country in campaign mode since 2005 cannot be good for the economy. But that is not the problem. The president needs to know that Raila’s career was in the doldrums after the ‘men-in-black’ fiasco in Kasarani.

ODM’s emptiness, hooliganism and incompetence was on display on live television for the whole world to see. It is the singular most embarrassing political fiasco for any politician anywhere in the world, save for banana republics ruled by militias and buffoons. To make things worse, we had been warned, “ODM ina wenyewe”. And true to form we saw the owners. In their true orange colours; chaotic, undemocratic, hooliganic and unrepentant.

I have insisted that in the civilised world, no politician would have survived such a debased, primitive and chaotic election. And any self-respecting politician would have resigned. Kenyan politics, however, does not qualify for a civilised world and we have no self-respecting politicians. Our politics are firmly grounded in ethnicity, impunity and mediocrity, siasa ya ukabila, ukora na upuzi. So much so that even after such a shameful catastrophe, we are told by some worshipers that Raila is still baba, mwana na roho mtakatifu!

So, what made a person so embarrassed, discredited and exposed revive his dwindling political fortunes and become a contender even with the history of chaos and hooliganism hanging around his neck? The answer is simple: The cluelessness, thievery and tribal jingoism of Uhurus’s Jubilee government! Honestly, had the Jubilee government delivered in the eyes of the people, Raila would be history. That he is always in the headlines is thanks to the amateur and thuggish job done by Jubilee. Where did the rain start beating Jubilee? What was the “original sin”? Lies!

Jubilee government was founded on a lie. We were told that the ICC cases that the Jubilee duo had were a small “personal problem”. This was a lie. It was actually the reason why they sought power and as soon as they acquired power, the small personal problem was bound to become a Pan-African and a global problem. By the time they, through hook and crook, got the cases scuttled, the regime was already in trouble. Some of the thieves they appointed in government had looted from the people with reckless abandon.

MEN IN BLACK

By then, Raila had already stolen his own elections and appointed henchmen to the ODM Nec, wiped his mouth, washed his hands hands, took a toothpick and assumed that nothing had happened. Having buried his own sins of omission and commission, he cleverly picked on the sins of omission and commission of the Jubilee government to not only sanitize himself, but to put the Jubilee government on its defense.

While you will rarely hear Uhuru referring to the men-in-black, (If I were him, I would hang on this like Trump hung on Clinton’s emails), he is always defending himself against Raila. The latest claim that Raila is bad for the economy is his latest attempt. It sounds desperate and honestly for a President, it is a cheap shot. Before this uncalled for outburst on his visit in Central Kenya, the President’s people have been trying to pin corruption on Odinga. How pathetic?

Look, it was not Raila who first revealed that there was corruption in the Jubilee government up to the Office of the President. It was Uhuru. It was not Raila who tabled a doomed list accompanied by a yelling state of the nation address in parliament, chest-thumbing about his commitment to fighting corruption. It was Uhuru. It was not Raila who declared corruption a security threat to the nation. Uhuru did.

It is not Raila or Raila’s henchmen who defended one Ann Waiguru until the heat was turned up on her and they bolted and ate their own words. After the drama of the doomed list, it was not Raila who appeared in a Statehouse summit with his tail between his legs, trading accusations with his juniors asking them, “Sasa mnataka nifanye nini jameeni...” It is not Raila who cannot show a single project that the Eurobond billions build.

But Raila took advantage of three things: – the President’s distraction with the “small personal problem” turned global, the president’s failed initiative with a doomed list and the President’s inability to regain control of a run-away regime, to cleanse himself and occupy the space of the crusader against corruption that the President had tried to assign himself with total failure.

Raila has succeeded in making Uhuru look bad by using Uhuru’s own story. He has succeeded in making himself look good despite his own story of chaos, hooliganism and lack of anything new to offer as an alternative to Jubilee.

Let us even grant Uhuru his hopeless mchongoano-like argument that Raila is actually bad for the economy. The simple fact remains that Raila is not and has not been President. He has no obligation to be “good for the economy” except that of his wife and children. He is not in government. The government not only has the obligation and the instruments to grow the economy, it also has the power to stop Raila if he was sabotaging its economic agenda.

Raila is not responsible for a slumping economy that is currently losing jobs by the thousands. Uhuru and his Jubilee zealots are.