MaxShimba
JF-Expert Member
- Apr 11, 2008
- 35,771
- 4,065
Raila did not take his time to fully understand the "mood and feeling" of ordinary Kenyans (especially IDPs) with regards to The ICC cases. I was shocked to see IDPs celebrating Uhuru's victory -- they said that Uhuru was fighting for them.
Very complex and emotional stuff.
The first blunder that Raila made was to assume that majority of IDPs plus Rift Valley and Central Kenya voters do support The ICC process. It is now obvious that Team UhuRuto had a lot of voters who voted for them to help them "avoid" The Hague process. In fact, I saw jubilant UhuRuto supporters yelling "No More Hague! No More Hague!" as they celebrated UhuRuto Victory.
These are very complex issues to navigate without bruising people..
What Raila should have done with respect to The ICC was to keep off completely. Raila is neither a lawyer nor is he an agent of The ICC. He spoke too much and too often about the ICC until people were CONVINCED that Raila was actually responsible for taking Uhuru and Ruto to The Hague. We know that Raila had no powers to take anybody to The Hague... The only leverage I believe Raila may have had was with The Kenya Human Rights Commission in as far as may be convincing them that on his part, he had nothing to do with PEV.
The second blunder Raila made was to position himself as the mouthpiece of wazungu, generally. He didn't understand the real sentiments Kenyan voters had towards wazungu. (Again, not all but majority in RV and Central seem to dislike wazungu). It is now obvious that anybody who is thought of as a mzungu stooge will have a very difficult time winning the hearts and souls of voters from certain areas of Kenya. This may also be related to The ICC process.
In my honest opinion, Raila should have kept off The ICC issue completely, and if he had any input to The ICC process, he should have used the Office of The Attorney General and The Ministry of Justice to channel his views in a confidential manner, views that should be packaged as the position of Government not Raila Odinga's personal views.
It is hard to believe that the IDPs were some of the most jubilant folks celebrating UhuRuto Victory. It is hard to believe...
Very complex and emotional stuff.
The first blunder that Raila made was to assume that majority of IDPs plus Rift Valley and Central Kenya voters do support The ICC process. It is now obvious that Team UhuRuto had a lot of voters who voted for them to help them "avoid" The Hague process. In fact, I saw jubilant UhuRuto supporters yelling "No More Hague! No More Hague!" as they celebrated UhuRuto Victory.
These are very complex issues to navigate without bruising people..
What Raila should have done with respect to The ICC was to keep off completely. Raila is neither a lawyer nor is he an agent of The ICC. He spoke too much and too often about the ICC until people were CONVINCED that Raila was actually responsible for taking Uhuru and Ruto to The Hague. We know that Raila had no powers to take anybody to The Hague... The only leverage I believe Raila may have had was with The Kenya Human Rights Commission in as far as may be convincing them that on his part, he had nothing to do with PEV.
The second blunder Raila made was to position himself as the mouthpiece of wazungu, generally. He didn't understand the real sentiments Kenyan voters had towards wazungu. (Again, not all but majority in RV and Central seem to dislike wazungu). It is now obvious that anybody who is thought of as a mzungu stooge will have a very difficult time winning the hearts and souls of voters from certain areas of Kenya. This may also be related to The ICC process.
In my honest opinion, Raila should have kept off The ICC issue completely, and if he had any input to The ICC process, he should have used the Office of The Attorney General and The Ministry of Justice to channel his views in a confidential manner, views that should be packaged as the position of Government not Raila Odinga's personal views.
It is hard to believe that the IDPs were some of the most jubilant folks celebrating UhuRuto Victory. It is hard to believe...