Raila says no one has reached out to him over dialogue on the political quagmire

Nothing on him or around him points to the fact that he is currently in the eye of Kenya’s biggest political storms that has claimed dozens of lives, and threatens to turn the 54-year-old country upside down.

But as he buckles up to ride the storm, Raila told the Sunday Standard in an exclusive interview of the five key changes he says should form the basis of talks between him and President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Electoral reforms, restructuring the executive, entrenching judicial independence, police reforms and strengthening devolution are at the core of his agenda for what he calls the Kenyan dream.

He wants the amendment to the Constitution to abolish the presidential system and introduce a parliamentary system and also introduce measures to safeguard the independence of the Judiciary following Jubilee’s threats to that independent arm of government after it nullified the August 8 poll results.

Although President Kenyatta is yet to reach out to the former-Prime Minister, Raila says he is open to talks to save the country from what he says is an imminent, fast- approaching abyss.

“There has been no attempt at all,” he said when asked if the President or his emissaries had approached him; “It takes two to tango. You cannot negotiate alone.”

The location for the interview is in a sunroom on one wing of his family house. Two paintings hang from the wall. A miniature nyatiti and arungu as well. We sit on a wrought iron sofa bedecked with fluffy comfortable cushions. Raila, sits on one end with the familiarity expected of a homeowner, facing east towards a rising sun.

He has been around guests ever since he was a child, and breaks the ice with a question that leads into a condensed history of independence Kenya.

Raila doesn’t just ask as question for the sake of it. He asks questions to know. To know more about you and where you come from and most importantly, to know if you know where you are going to. You will tell him your village and he will tell you what it was called at independence. He will tell stories and stretch time and transport you to the times of your grandfathers. And then, without warning he will bring you back to the present.

A present which he says, has a lot more connection to an unwanted, unpleasant past than to a much sought after future. He says Kenya is regressing.

“Anybody who does not acknowledge that we have a crisis does not live in Kenya. The difference between now and the 2007 crisis is that people are not killing each other but it’s the police killing civilians,” he says.

And the solution to the crisis, according to him, is institutional reform and the restructuring of the country’s executive system to deal with exclusion.

“The parliamentary system that could have addressed the rifts was opposed by opportunists during the Bomas talks. A presidential system cannot work in an ethnically polarized country like ours. It is only a parliamentary system that can ensure even someone from the minority rises to the top.”

He insists that this is the right recipe for the country and this is why a section of the country is ready and willing to start the conversation of secession.

“We have a situation where governors, senators, MPs and MCAs are openly demanding to secede and when they say this they get standing ovations from their people.

This shows you there is something fundamentally wrong with where we are as a country. We have seen imaginary maps coming up,” he says.

Raila is new to neither struggle nor agitation. His history and that of post-independence Kenya are joined at the hip. But, once in a while he takes time off to think about those who have been in the trenches with him.

During such times, he turns his Ipod on and selects a playlist. Depending on his mood, he might let Harry Belafonte’s voice transfer him to exotic places as he listens to Farewell Jamaica. After that will play Christina Jaber, or Giko Piny by D O Misiani, hanging on to every guitar chord strum by the benga maestro.

By this time, he will have surrendered to the music and it will transport him to Congo, where Francois Luambo Luanzo Makiadi will tease out memories from years past and perhaps the crooner’s mastery of melody will offer an escape into the future. And then Raila will remember his days in the trenches. He will remember the victories and the losses as well. But most importantly he will wish that some of those who fought next to him were still alive.

“I miss George Anyona most for his clarity of thought,” Raila says.

Raila has been mythicized, almost to god status by his fanatical support base. But he is human. And his human nature allows him to be afraid and to be flawed. But, he says, the fear does not include what he terms as threats from the state.

If the Raila homestead was to say, run out of salt, African tradition would demand that his wife Ida, borrows some from the nearest neighbour, who happens to be Attorney General Githu Muigai, who last week did not mince his words by telling Raila that the state would try him for treason if he goes ahead with his planned swearing in on Tuesday.

“The statement by my neighbour and former tenant was unfortunate and irresponsible,” he said. Muigai said the state would invoke the Penal Code and have Raila charged with treason, which carries a death sentence penalty.

“He misses the point completely. This is blackmail and intimidation. He should know I have been charged with treason before, spent six months in Kamiti and the state entered a nolle prosequi because they couldn’t prove the charges. He should not touch that button,” Raila said.

The Tuesday swearing in has remained contentious but he says, NASA will push on with it, without giving any more details on what oath he will take, where he will take it and at what time it will be conducted.

What he fears most is what he terms as the regression of the state and the implications this will have. “I am afraid that we are living at a time when the powers that be think that might is right. We are moving backwards as a nation and the gains we made are slowly but surely being eroded. Drafters of the Constitution envisaged an independent Inspector General of Police but unfortunately MPs amended the law to give the President powers to appoint top police command. Now on orders from above they kill innocent Kenyans,” he says, citing recent killings of demonstrators blamed on the police.

Raila believes he is a Stateman. But underneath the charm and wisdom he espouses and the respect commands lies a certain stubbornness. A stubbornness that holds him back from ceding ground whenever he thinks he is right. A stubbornness that allows him to, every so often remind the country of the elections that have been stolen from him, most recently the August 8th polls.

“We now have access to the IEBC server and have authentic results which show that I won by over a million votes. The court did not nullify what was in the servers but the declaration of Uhuru as winner. It is on the basis of those results that we are going to do the swearing in,” he says.

He however promises not to do anything outlandish thereafter. “People ask if I will storm State House after the ceremony but I want to tell them this is just a means to an end. To show we have the numbers to push for electoral reforms and justice,” he said.

The absence of his two- time running mate Kalonzo Musyoka has provided fodder for discourse for the politically inclined. There have been talks of rifts and a jostling for space and recognition for those in Kalonzo’s party.

“I would like him to be part of what we will do on Tuesday but we understand his situation. His party will come up with an amicable proposal for that day,” he says.

In Kalonzo’s absence, Raila is now faced with dealing with sibling rivalry within the coalition over the division of parliamentary committee positions among his foot soldiers.

“It is not easy to satisfy everybody. This noise you are hearing is normal. It shall be addressed once MPs share all committee slots and other positions available,” he says and laughs the concerns off like a grandfather watching grandchildren squabble over a piece of cake unaware that there are dozens more baking in their grandmother’s kitchen.

Both friend and foe have accused Raila of being overconfident when approaching elections, a fact that perhaps emanates from familiarity of having past and ongoing relationships with his perceived political enemies.

Currently his biggest political nemesis is Uhuru Kenyatta, whom he says is ‘very close to him and his family’ and that although their relationship goes way back, ‘Uhuru does not have the support of two thirds of the country and doesn’t have legitimacy to govern Kenya.’

“The Supreme Court was blackmailed to give the seal of approval,” he said. Sometimes though these friendships, like that between him and Tanzanian President John Magufuli, and the influence he has over them are over analysed. There have been aspersions that Magufuli skipped President Uhuru’s swearing in because of his relationship with the opposition leader.

“I think Magufuli had other engagements and that is why he didn’t come. He wants to see peace in Kenya. I went to Zanzibar for holiday and didn’t meet him. My friendship is personal and at family level. I don’t interfere with their internal politics and he doesn’t interfere with our internal politics. No one should impute improper motives,” Raila said.

Apart from the chirping of birds around the compound and the reminder by his two children, Junior and Winnie who almost play the role of official time keeper often pointing at their wrists to indicate time is up and that their father is running late for another appointment, the other constant sound during the interview is the buzzing of his phone. He will flip it, look at the caller and then place it face down on the glass and iron coffee table.

In all his political career, Raila has been looked at as an antagonist. In fact, there is a generation of Kenyans who regard him as an enemy of the state because of his continuous agitation. Always pushing the wrong buttons. Always throwing political correctness out of the window and putting things as they are. Never settling. Always moving. Always scheming.

“Nothing good comes from sitting pretty,” he said. “Things just don’t change for the better on their own. There are people who paid the price for the freedoms young people now enjoy. And for their children to continue enjoying these liberties they grew up with, someone else will have to pay the price,” he says.

Raila continues to ride the storm that has so far claimed, according to NASA, 215 lives. All dead from alleged police brutality. Sections of the economy have come to a grinding halt. But the relentlessness continues.

Next stop, Tuesday December 12th, for the swearing in that is a means to an end. An end which in Raila’s eyes, includes institutional reforms that he says, will usher in a brand new Kenya.

Meanwhile, the country holds its breath. It will either exhale in relief with the dying of the storm, or pass out from a lack of air amid the debris that has been flying around since August 8th as the political storm continues to gather speed.