Are Raila and Ruto conjoined in the battle for 2027 re-election?

President William Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga after a past meeting in Uganda. [File, Standard] Raila Odinga will not support President William Ruto's second term bid in 2027, or maybe he will. The ODM party leader is equivocating and prevaricating. One of the gains from his fellowship with President Ruto is doublespeak, mediated by doublethink. Two irreconcilable thoughts sit comfortably in his head. They are both wrong, and they are both right. Odinga will not support Ruto in 2027, and he will support him. People are saying here in Emanyulia that Odinga's dalliance with Ruto ought not to have ever happened. They are calling it a comedy of tragic errors. Yet, in democratic spaces people must be left to their own designs and devices. They must reckon with the damnation that goes with the two. These are the three Ds of democracy - own designs, devices, and doom; or damnation. Among the good spinoffs from the political flirtation between Odinga and Ruto is ideological divide in the Orange party. It is good because it has separated the people from the sheeple; the nonconformists from the sycophants. The freethinkers in the party remain true to the original democratic principles that gave Kenya its most powerful ideological colossus in 2005. They keep the democratic candle burning. In our hearts in Emanyulia, we still believe that ODM won the 2007 presidential election. But the victory was stolen; our victory. Thereafter, ODM has pejorated steadily. It has become the home of an almighty herdsman and his cows. The cows proudly proclaim that they will do anything the herdsman says. They will not ask any questions. That is the height of inanity. It is tragic that such absurdity should reside in elected leaders; representatives of the people in the nation's highest law making forum. The saving grace, accordingly, is the rise of nonconformists, led by the Secretary General, Edwin Sifuna. Sifuna is not just an administrative SG, he is a general in the ODM army. He commands troops that remain loyal to the original creed. In the fullness of time, such minds could converge with other kindred brains, to possibly give the Kenyan nation a new lease of life. For the country to breathe afresh, what is sometimes called "the third option" must become the viable option. The grain of history teaches us, however, that the viable option is not always the successful option. Viable civic options often fail because of what the German-American philosopher Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) calls "the banality of evil." Political evil, such as voting back a regime that has sinned against the nation, through cheerful killing of innocent youth, will often happen not because voters support "shoot in the legs" orders, for example. It rather occurs because shallow-minded voters give thoughtless support to the regime. This is the curse of democracy that Socrates and Plato rejected. There is an unthinking following of oppressive and failed governments by a critical mass of the population. Such a population is in the grip of doublethink. It may believe that the Kenya Kwanza government and its leader, President Ruto, have failed the nation. But it also believes it is good to give them a second term. It may think ODM nonconformists and other progressive voices hold the right end of the political stick. But it also believes that it should follow the sycophants. Such is the banality of evil. It thrives on mental disengagement from the reality of the evil outcomes of people's deeds. The perpetrators of this banality belong to a sheeple class. An Orwellian "four legs good, two legs bad" class shifts overnight to "four legs good, two legs better" class, at a domineering leader's filliping of two fingers. As Odinga flounders with Ruto and 2027, the sheeple around him have pledged their readiness to do his will - on earth as in heaven. Yet, Odinga himself must know that Emanyulia is now a metaphor for the Kenyan nation. He should know with Angela Ambitho of Infotrak what Emanyulia is saying. Fifty-seven per cent of the population has no faith in the Ruto-Odinga government. Only 17 per cent think they are doing well. The remaining 26 per cent don't know what to think. The bottom-line is that Kenyans are sick and tired of the Kenya Kwanza regime and its ODM partners. The time for Odinga to escape is now. Scram today, ODM Man! Quick! Tell Kenyans that you meant well, but your man was irredeemable, irremediable. They might just still believe you. Otherwise, wait to be interred with Kenya Kwanza. They say here in Emanyulia that the foolish fly goes to the grave with its food. -Dr Muluka is a strategic communications adviser. www.barrackmuluka.co.ke

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