The dust has all but settled after the repeat presidential poll held on October 26 that was ordered by the Supreme Court. The court will in a week give a verdict on the legality and validity of the election.
But even before that happens, NASA presidential candidate Raila Odinga is seeking support from the West in his calls for fresh elections. His visit of the US this week is meant to woo the world’s greatest nation to his side.
After the first round of elections, the Opposition found zero resonance with erstwhile partners from the West. Indeed, majority of envoys from Western countries, who have supported him for years, were aghast at Raila’s decision to boycott the fresh presidential election.
The envoys were categorical that the repeat election must be held as long as the order of the Supreme Court was in place. They had no time for his entreaties that the electoral body needed to be overhauled. In fact, the pointedly asked politicians to “leave IEBC alone to do its work,” a reference to the anti-IEBC demos that Raila adopted after the Supreme Court ruling.
They repeatedly attempted, without success, to convince him to rescind the decision and contest the poll. He refused, insisting that “there would be no election” without reforms. He even undertook a trip to Britain, to try and convince the British Secretary for African Affairs, Mr Rory Stewart, that the election should be suspended. All he received from the British Government was their regretting that he had decided to boycott the poll. A similar response was received from the American Government through an official in the State Department.
READ MORE
Marjan's exit exposes credibility test for IEBC
This man Marjan: Like his rise, controversy haunds him out of IEBC
Refusing to believe that the West would turn their back against him, he continued his futile crusade against the election. Still in denial, NASA thinks they can bypass the local Western envoys and go directly to their home capitals to give their version of the story.
It is now clear that NASA election boycott was a miscalculation. By boycotting the election, NASA put themselves on the wrong side of history, since they were now operating outside the Constitution. Without a change in the Constitution, the country was bound to hold the repeat election in 60 days, and Raila’s willful disregard of constitutionalism has painted him in poor light among those he is seeking a sympathetic hearing.
In fact, NASA’s decision not to petition the outcome of the repeat poll was probably informed by the knowledge that they had completely exhausted their goodwill in the Supreme Court, and the political capital they had built up after the annulment of the polls. After all, didn’t they defy the same court that ordered the fresh election! One wonders if NASA had really intended to have the President’s win annulled so that they could contest afresh without the “irregularities and illegalities,” that were the reason for the annulment, or whether it was merely a ruse to plunge the country into a constitutional crisis. The desperation to have the US and the West give NASA an ear can only mean one thing; they now realise the withdrawal from the October 26 election, and the consequent disruption of the exercise in a few places, was a big mistake.
The world took note, and now, the opposition is longing for a shoulder to cry on. And from the signs, it could be too late.
- The writer is consultant on governance. gathukara@gmail.com.
