Why Raila sought help of Rift professionals

The clamour for votes in Rift Valley has gained momentum as CORD begins a charm offensive to wrestle the region from the grip of Deputy President William Ruto.

According to opposition insiders, who attended a meeting between Kalenjin professionals and ODM leader Raila Odinga on Wednesday at a Nairobi hotel, CORD plans to appeal to the Rift by capitalising on issues dear to the region which the Jubilee administration has failed to address.

Sources told The Standard on Sunday that the ODM leader’s meeting with the professionals was just the beginning of heightened activities in the Rift Valley meant to claw back lost support of the Orange party.

The latest strategy follows several trips the ODM leader has made to the region in recent weeks, as he develops new contacts ahead of 2017.

Raila enjoyed the regions support in 2007 until he fell out with Ruto, who was charged with crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court.

Apart from Baringo, Raila has also made several trips to the South Rift where he has been hosted by local leaders among them the erstwhile chairman of the Council of Governors Isaac Ruto who is also a fierce critic of the Deputy President.

Solid backing

“The meeting with the professionals discussed a number of issues such as revitalising ODM among members of the Kipsigis community who gave the party solid support in the 2007 election,” said Bomet County ODM chairman Ronald Ngeny.

Among issues Raila and the 500 professionals discussed was how to capitalise on issues the residents of Rift Valley were unhappy about. It was also an opportunity for the ODM leader to clear his name over a number of issues he has been blamed for.

Amos Olempaka, an ally of Raila from Baringo County, said the CORD principal used the meeting to make more contacts across the former Rift Valley Province to help in countering propaganda that he was behind the ICC cases and the Mau Forest evictions.

“Raila explained that he had no role whatsoever in the tribulations of the Deputy President. He also said Mau evictions were not of his making but a Cabinet decision,” said Olempaka. Raila’s rating in Rift Valley was at all time high before and slightly after the 2007 elections but dropped dramatically after Ruto and the then ODM chairman Henry Kosgey were among the six listed by the then ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo as suspected post-election violence masterminds.

But even before the elections, persistent claims by some Rift Valley MPs led by Ruto that he had engineered the eviction of squatters from the Mau created a backlash from the gullible electorate.

But now, Raila and ODM are determined to claw back the support. He has also been working with grassroots leaders.

The party’s priority now is to ensure it gets grip of Narok, Turkana, Bomet and Kericho.

The Orange party has also planned a humanitarian convoy that will deliver food to Baringo residents who were displaced by insecurity and schools that are deserted but which have been largely ignored by the government. A former senior public service mandarin who attended the Nairobi meeting said: “Rift Valley as it is now is like a home where children are crying for help and the father they look up to is ignoring them. A good Samaritan will of course heed their cries and help them and we want to be that good Samaritan.”

Kalonzo tour

The Standard on Sunday has learnt that CORD co-principal Kalonzo Musyoka will also be touring parts of the North Rift for three days from June 19 also to address similar issues to those being advanced by his co- principal.

Olempaka is also co-ordinating the Kalonzo meetings that will take place at Tot in Elgeyo Marakwet, Loruk in Baringo North and at Marigat in Baringo where a prayer meeting will be held. It emerged that during the Nairobi meeting, it was unanimously agreed that the professionals move to the grassroots to discuss with residents the options a Raila leadership would offer that Jubilee has not.

“We all agreed that Raila was rejected by the voters in Rift Valley because his opponents used massive propaganda to paint him as the devil, when the truth is that he had very good intentions for the people” said Olempaka. Present at the meeting were MPs Junet Mohammed (Suna East), Steve Kariuki (Mathare) and Elijah Memusi (Kajiado Central) and ODM Executive Director Oduor Ongwen among others. ODM Deputy Treasurer Olga Karani, who organised the meeting, confirmed that the professionals met Raila.

“The professionals from various fields shared with the Opposition leader stories about the impact of devolution in their regions so far, their experiences with government policies in agriculture, security, conservation of forest resources, appointment to public service jobs and plans for the future,” she said.

Futile move

However, some analysts from the Kalenjin community dismissed the move by Raila to use professional to woo back the Kalejin into supporting his bid.

Dr Daniel Kandagor argued that Raila was using a wrong approach because professionals do not stand for anything and have no capacity to sway the voting patterns.

He urged Raila to seek support through political leaders like Baringo Senator Gideon Moi and Governor Isaac Ruto. “If the professionals were genuine with Raila, they would have advised him to court such politicians who have a following and not them. In my view, the professionals were there for selfish interest and nothing more,” he said. Dr Hillary Barchok, Dean of Faculty of Education, Chuka University and Dr John Tangus, a lecturer at Egerton University said most professionals were not in touch with voters.

“This approach will definitely fail because professionals are few and out of touch with what happens on a daily basis back in their villages,” said Barchok.

But Raila allies said his latest attempt to engage the region would bear fruit. Kabondo Kasipul MP Sylvance Osele said engaging voters directly would eliminate “political brokers”.

“We know our party leader lost support in the Rift Valley because of propaganda around Mau and ICC. Engaging the region directly or through particular distinct groups will give no room for misinformation,” Mr Osele told The Standard on Sunday, adding efforts were ongoing to engage voters through an inter-constituency platform mooted by CORD MPs.