Time for Raila Odinga to hand over the mantle

Every nation, investor and business needs predictability. In Kenya, unfortunately, top opposition politician Raila Odinga has made it practically impossible to predict anything.

Almost single-handedly, he has ensured high voltage politics and tension for more than 20 years. It is true that every government should be held accountable. But it is also true that this can be done without holding the country at ransom.

At the height of the KANU dictatorship in the 1980s and early 1990s, Mr Odinga, then a much younger man, was among a group of mostly young politicians who sacrificed so much to deliver what has been called the “second liberation”.

To date, his compatriots hold him (and many others) in high regard for his contribution.
A lot more has been achieved since those heady days. Besides the reintroduction of multiparty democracy, the country got a progressive new Constitution in 2010.

The Constitution significantly reduces the presidential powers, making it a pale shadow of the excessive discretion enjoyed by the office in yesteryears.
The purpose of the struggles and the hard-won gains was to restore democracy, introduce civilisation in the way we conduct our business and put citizens at the centre of governance. It is disturbing to see Mr Odinga leading protests some 30-odd years later.

And whereas the Constitution allows picketing and presentation of petitions, one wonders why we fought so hard for so many years only to return to the streets over a matter that can be negotiated through various institutions.

International media always revel at showing the world https://cdn.standardmedia.co.ke/images of violence, tension and uncertainty whenever Mr Odinga and his followers hit the streets, ostensibly to demand the removal of IEBC Commissioners. It presents a picture of a nation that has not matured, where dialogue is frowned upon and violence is entertained.

It gives the country a bad name, destroys our tourism industry and keeps investors at bay. If, as CORD claims, Parliament rejected a petition by ODM activist Wafula Buke, the former Prime Minister should have called the President for a one-on-one sit-down to deliberate on the matter.

The two most popular politicians in the country would have reached an acceptable compromise. Quite evidently, Mr Odinga has used IEBC as a scapegoat to gain traction for his CORD coalition, shore up his political fortunes and possibly force an arrangement that hands him a key post in Government if he doesn’t win the next elections.

He has used his near fanatical following, especially in his Luo Nyanza backyard, to keep an uncertain nation guessing as to his next move.

In the process, property and lives have been lost, tribal tension has reached feverpitch and the violence narrative has returned firmly to the centre.

Mr Odinga himself is fond of making comparisons with the United States although most people agree that the two nations are hundreds of years apart.

I think he has a lot to learn from recent US electoral history.
When Democratic candidate Al Gore lost the elections to Republican George Bush in 2000, there was a contest that ended up in the Supreme Court.

Once the court rendered its verdict, Mr Gore moved on to champion his pet climate change agenda, even winning a joint Nobel peace prize for his work.

In 2008, when America elected the first African American President, Barack Obama, Republican John McCain returned to the Senate from where he has played his role in holding the Obama administration accountable.

In a similar manner, the Republican candidate in the 2012 elections, Mr Mitt Romney, also had the grace to leave the political scene after losing to Obama.

Without appearing to take away Mr Odinga’s constitutional rights to participate in elective politics, sometimes there is more grace in leaving the political scene after losing an election.

It allows other talented politicians to emerge and make their own history.

Having lost three times since 1997 and having reduced chances of winning any future presidential contest, Kenya would be the winner if the CORD leader hands over the mantle to upcoming politicians and moves on to bigger, more rewarding ventures.

Mr Odinga is a man of big stature. He is a talented mobiliser and has friends in virtually all parts of the world.

I can only imagine what he can accomplish were he to retire from active politics and take up an international role that allows him to shape a global agenda.