NASA tough test is to win where past alliances flopped

NASA UNVEILS ITS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES National Super Alliance(NASA) Presidential candidate Raila Odinga(right) and his Deputy Kalonzo Musyoka celebrates immediately after being unveiled as the candidates by their party. This was during a political rally at Uhuru Park, Nairobi on 27/04/2017.PHOTO BY PIUS CHERUIYOT

When it comes to building political alliances, Raila Odinga is Kenya’s ultimate political grandmaster. His present flagship in the National Super Alliance (NASA) is the latest feat in a history rich with alliances that have had both meaningful measures of success and political close shaves.

Raila’s first crack at alliance formation began in 2001. He started working with President Daniel Arap Moi on what the two leaders termed “cooperation” between the National Development Party (NDP) and Kanu. Ten years of multi-party democracy had failed to bring about discernible change. President Moi had stoically remained in power, amid ever-mounting internal agitation for political transformation and external pressure from international development partners pushing for a new order in the political economy.