Remark on military an all-time low for Raila

By Mwenda Njoka
[email protected]

On Saturday January 18, 2014, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga addressed a public rally at Kenyatta Sports Ground in Kisumu where he made alarming and indeed outrageous allegations not befitting a leader of his standing. Raila was quoted in the media claiming that “military was used to rig the elections in favour of Jubilee”.

But surprisingly, the former PM offered not a single piece of evidence to back these outrageous claims.

Raila’s claims are disturbing at two levels: one, that a leader, who has held many high positions of immense responsibility in the country, including being Prime Minister, can be so naïve as to make unsubstantiated utterances without thinking about the likely consequences of such remarks; two, that a politician of his experience and one who, presumably, still aspires one day to be the Commander-in-Chief of Kenya Defence Forces can make allegations that undermine one of the most critical institutions in the country.

On the other hand, one wonders why it took Raila Odinga a whole ten months after the alleged rigging to make public such a serious issue.

If one assumes that Raila was taking his time on the matter to investigate, gather evidence and concretise his case on rigging, then where is that evidence? Raila’s claims have the negative potential to undermine and demoralise an institution that has, since independence, stood true to its calling of defending the country against foreign aggression.

As former PM knows or ought to know, since independence, Kenya’s military has never played any role in politics whatsoever. The military has over the years carried out its constitutional duties with diligence and intense professionalism. That is as it ought to be. If indeed the former PM had evidence of military’s complicity in the alleged election rigging, why didn’t he present the same in the Supreme Court when he filed his petition early last year? He did not do so because no such evidence exists. Why would the former PM want to drag the country’s military — a well revered institution in the region (forget stories about Westgate) into shady political feuds?

What’s more, Raila went on to claim that the Chief Justice and Supreme Court “were forced by Jubilee leaders to deliver a verdict they did not believe in”.

Again, just another wild allegation not backed by a scintilla of fact. As Prime Minister and a key player in the last Government, Raila was instrumental in the appointment not just of Chief Justice Willy Mutunga but the entire Supreme Court bench.

All members of the Supreme Court went through a thorough vetting process and the former PM was a key player in this process.