BY JAMES WAFULA IN NAIROBI.
Kenya Azmio party August 9, 2022 Presidential running-mate Ms Martha Karua and Wiper co-principal Hon. Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka are at the centre of a fresh storm challenging the election victory of President William Ruto.
This follows a mysterious IEBC whistle blower claiming he had “irrefutable” evidence that Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga won the August 2022 presidential election.
The whistle blower who has refused to be named claimed to have forwarded data to the Azmio secretariat showing Mr Odinga “won” with 57 percent while Ruto lost at 41 percent.
But supporters of President William Ruto have laughed off the claims as a desperate gamble to close the stable long after the horse has already bolted out.
However with the supreme court having thrown out the petition challenging the victory of President William Ruto declared winner by IEBC and his subsequent swearing in, many supporters of Odinga have long moved on preparing to try their luck come in 2027.
The IEBC whistle blower has thrown in a fresh spanner in the works.
Mr Kalonzo who was to become Chief Minister if Raila had prevailed called a hastily arranged press conference in Nairobi with Ms Karua where they renewed demands that the whole election be audited and the servers opened in what many see as a true exercise in futility.
Claims of 125 ghost polling stations they claimed gave Ruto victory were disproved by the seven Supreme Court Judges who trashed it as “hot air”. The matter was laid to rest with the subsequent swearing in of Mr Ruto as Kenya’s fifth President after he received the symbolic sword from retired President H.E Uhuru Kenyatta. He automatically became President, head of State, and Commander – in Chief of the Kenyan Armed Forces.
But while Hon. Kalonzo and Karua claim they are awaiting direction from Mr Odinga who is abroad, many say they are indulging in a fools’ paradise. Some see this as just a clever attempt to elbow Ruto into some kind of political truce like what happened on March 9, 2018 with President Kenyatta.
Azmio pundits argue that a clearly aging Odinga having virtually enjoyed state power under retired President Kenyatta, has long lost appetite for opposition politics.
The man who for decades was the face of radical reforms in Kenya and voice of the down trodden anti-establishment figure for which he was detained for years without trial, has in the last decade shed that skin like a python.
It is not for nothing that Mr Ruto was warmly received during his two day visit in the “lion’s den” (read Luo Nyanza) where Odinga through his confidant Siaya Governor Hon. James Orengo told the Head of State “to feel at home”.
Raila’s elder brother Mr Oburu Odinga also weighed in assuring the President Luo Nyanza was ready to work with him, clear signals of a radical political shift.
Such a shift many say would leave Karua and Kalonzo as the biggest causalities as Odinga’s party enjoys state funding by virtue of majority numbers in parliament.
The former Prime Minister is also African Union envoy for Infrastructure something that has enabled him to fly around the world on all expenses paid official trips.
Both Kalonzo and Karua are well aware that as matters stand short of outright rebellion that would plunge the country into divisive chaos, there are no more legal options left. Indeed there are claims the two may have engineered the so called “IEBC whistle blower” to halt the possible Ruto – Raila political romance.
Ruto’s UDA/ Kenya Kwanza now control both chambers of the house – senate and national assembly having both speakers from his party.
The so-called whistle blower many Odinga supporters are saying should have tabled what he knows or has in possession during the 10 – day presidential petition hearing.
They argue that he should have been enjoined among litigants opposing Ruto’s win as now it is a case of too little too late.
For now the bickering Azmio brigade still refusing to admit that they lost the election, are like passengers trying to board a train that has long since left the station.
The only choice appears to be a one way ticket home into retirement and wait for 2027 still five years away and try again.
