Backlash Against Raila As Focus Turns to Talks

As the conversation changed to talks, enraged youth expressed their disappointment in Raila Odinga after he joined President William Ruto to call for dialogue on the political crisis following the recent spate of protests against the Kenya Kwanza government

By THEDISPATCH.DIGITAL REPORTER

There was a fierce reaction to Raila Odinga’s Tuesday declaration that his party had agreed to dialogue as a way to address the political crisis in the country as Gen Z activists described it as a personal deal and declared that he didn’t speak for them.

Speaking on various fora on the Internet, young. angry youth expressed their disappointment with Raila, aka Baba for going into discussions with President William Ruto, at which he agreed to dialogue, saying he had not been part of the movement and had remained silent as the youth took on the government to address the ills that have bedeviled the country since independence.

Questions were also being asked by the youth about Raila’s reputation as a pro-people fighter, while all along after losses, he has resorted to talks with the enemies. “Either Raila fought for something he believed in or not. You cannot fight for something you don’t believe in. He has been a transactional politician all along, cynically exploiting the plight of the people for his ends,” said a youth on a discussion on Space X.

“You cannot have dialogue in the absence of justice,” said another. “You cannot have justice in the absence of contrition. You cannot have dialogue when there are youth that were arrested. They have not been released. You cannot have dialogue in a situation of mendacity, where some people have hidden their cards. Kenyans en masse are setting the agenda and want to retake their country. The politicians are closing ranks to save themselves.”

The youth cited the numerous reports that have been made after taskforces have been established in the past but are shelved as soon as they are handed over.

Undermining Raila’s credentials, some youth cited the counties under ODM, which have experienced record corruption and the residents are entertained with comedy and praise for Raila; that he is the one who determines whether one stays in power or not and all that matters is loyalty to him.” They cited counties like Migori and Siaya, which are headed by ODM governors who have declared that all they need to do is be loyal to Raila and deliver what he needs, usually money, to be returned for a second term. “In these counties,. the governors are not questioned about their delivery and what they have done with the money they get. You will be told that “for as long as Raila is happy, we’re happy. The people must get out of this mentality of slavery to a man who continues to exploit their loyalty and faith in him. They believe he will rescue them, that he is fighting for them but is he really fighting for them or himself? What did he do yesterday? Who sent him to talk for Gen Z? Has he been part of this revolution?? No. He simply came in to take advantage.”

In Nairobi, Governor Johnson Sakaja also came under fire; “Nairobi is for cartels. Pale City Hall kuna ma broker. Pale hata wewe kukuwa na stage, hao watu wako na hizo stages wana earn pesa mingi sana. they go home with Sh30,00 daily and yet we sit here and let kina Sakaja get away with these things. This country is ours and we must fight.” In the discussion, one claimed that Sakaja was constructing apartment blocks each day.

Yet another said, “These people make us think that young people ae too young to be President, that they cannot run a country. It’s about your mental age not your physical age. How do we let people who have messed u0p the country for ages mess up the country?”

“Don’t believe in a politician, subscribe to principles, the moment you align to an individual, he’s going to throw you under the bus, you’ll say that he betrayed you. No, he did not betray you, you simply didn’t know him.”

Among the youth however, some supported Raila’s call for dialogue. One of them said on Space X’s #RailaAStatesman hosted by @Billy and attended by, among others, Dennis Itumbi, Raila had demonstrated in the past that he cared for the common person. “Raila has fought for us. he has faced the government. Right now business has stalled. The economy is on  a slowdown and we have achieved most of our aims. We said IEBC must be amended and it was. We should talk now because there’s nothing that can happen unless we’re talking.”

But as the youth railed against Raila, analysts pointed out that the unfolding plot was part of Ruto’s game plan from the beginning and it gives Raila a chance to revenge on the Mt Kenya group of politicians who didn’t turn up to vote for him at the 2022 elections. Raila’s propaganda network was activated immediately after the announcement of him entering dialogue with Ruto, to claim that the recent demonstrations were a Mt Kenya affair and that “Onagi” or the Luo Nation, had n0thing to do with them.

Peter Kaluma, the MP for Homa Bay, seemed to confirm this narrative when he wrote on X, “The whole country was quiet, others laughed when they killed our people! The amount of blood Luos have spilled can fill Lake Victoria. Baba, you say I follow…” Although this may be interpreted as a way for him to stay relevant in the Luo political space – because to oppose Raila in Luo Nyanza is often suicidal, it was also statement that the Luo leadership has interpreted the recent Gen Z protests as a Kenya Kwanza affair led by disgruntled Kikuyu leaders, among them Deputy President Rigathi Gacagua

“The fact that this is being reduced to a contest between the Kikuyu and the Luo, or Nilotics in this case, is unfortunate and likely to derail the fight against the mediocrity and political transactionism that have characterized the politic of Kenya. This is the narrative that was being developed when it was claimed that Uhuru Kenyatta was financing the demonstrations against the Ruto government. It was trivialisation of a serious thing, very typical of Kenya Kwanza and ODM.”

“We don’t want to see these people. We want to see new people. They have not fulfilled their promises. None of them have bene fulfilled. You gave the promises but you have not fulfilled even 25% of their promises.. This year should not see that man in their offices.”

“What are we doing in 2027? We’re the ones who should show people that this man (Ruto) is killing this nation by removing him from power. He started that process yesterday when he started the process of reconstitution of IEBC. When the military sees that you’re losing ground, they will tell you to step aside. So it’s upon us right not to act. I am calling upon all Kenyans to ” Six Sounsands.

But as the discussions progressed, there was a word of caution, “Ruto is a strategist. He’s the man who made Raila the Prime Ministers, He ma de Uhuru the President and he made himself the President. As much as we are mobilising crowds, he’s also the master mobiliser, he will mobilise crowds, he can mobilise the clannism card, he can mobilise.”