Those are not my words, but Raila Amolo Odinga‘s, the epitome of chastity and honesty has made a detour from his presidential campaigns after he found out that plans are afoot to rig elections. And as a man who is both virtuous and a true patriot, he has decided to tell all and sundry about it not the relevant bodies since they are compromised. The only problem is that he is addressing his scoop to the wrong people, we the mass. Raila is a man who has told us that he brought us the progressive new constitution (which is the next great thing after sliced bread) and we should therefore have trust in the credible institutions that it has created or enhanced. Among these bodies is the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) headed by non other than the much-loved and respected Ahmed Isaak Hassan who Raila himself has consistently said that he has faith in. I will not include the institution headed by Dr. Willy Mutunga i.e. the judiciary because it is a bandia (fake) institution according to Jakom. Among the two leading contenders, one gentleman I know who will not take anything short of victory is Raila Odinga. This is because this is a do or die affair; he has given all he had to be the president of the republic of Kenya, and he knows that this is his time therefore he cannot bring himself to accept the fact that he an ace, could lose to a novice like his former muthoniwa, Uhuru Kenyatta.

Raila has raised what could amount to a credible but ill-informed red flag about rigging but they are directed at the wrong forum. I lack the words to express my consternation why an international respected person like Jakom can be engaging in cheap fights with suspects like Uhuru and Ruto. These are not people who should be giving Agwambo sleepless nights, it should be a walk in the park for him, not the uphill task that it is appearing to be. While his opponents are have the pariah status who only get essential contacts with the rest of the civilized world, he is the king respected and feted everywhere he goes, while his opponents are land grabbers and drunkards moving from koti hii, to koti hii, he is as white as snow, while his opponents are devilish capitalists, he is a social democrat concerned with the welfare of the people of Kenya and wealth distribution, while the suspects are only concerned about amassing wealth, he is busy sharing out the little riches that he has like Mahatma Gandhi. These are some of the reasons why I am befuddled that Raila cannot knock out these characters instead of going the full 12 round bout. If the presidential race was a chess game, Raila would be playing the white pieces while Uhuru would be playing the black pieces, and instead of Raila checkmating Uhuru, he would be busy strategizing for a stalemate.

We must all speak out against vote rigging whenever and wherever it happens. In 1992, Kenneth Stanley Njindo Matiba “Kenbrew” routed Moi in the presidential contest, but Moi rigged himself in Matiba was foolish enough to head to the courts where the hyenas were presiding over the trial of the sheep, he got fried, licked his wounds, went to the Vatican to visit the pope and burnt his voter’s card then retired to oblivion in South Coast. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni ( through the competent legal advice of Eugene Ludovic Wamalwa) has been rigging elections each time they are held and ordering for the battering of Kizza Besigye if he dares raise his head to protest, Comrade Dr. Robert Gabriel Mugabe and his agents have always rigged elections and later on reconfigured the face of Morgan Tsvangirai. In 2007, most of us agreed that Kibaki had lost to Raila, but we know who the president (the one with only one dear wife) is whether it was a rigged election or not, we paid heavily for Samuel Kivuitu’s indecisiveness. Prior to the elections, Anyang’ Nyong’o’ had revealed that he had actionable information that Kibaki was planning to rig elections, we do not know what stategise his party put in place to avoid the rigging but nevertheless Kibaki did his thing. I also sincerely sympathized with Raila and asked myself questions like who created Kibaki? Who nurtured Kivuitu? Did mother Karua have parents or human relatives? Was Amos Kimunya a robot, an alien or a human being? But all these were rhetorical questions, with no answers.

But why I ask, is Raila the co-principal, assisted with the third small co-principal (Kalonzo) crying wolf? Isn’t he the big kahuna kilokilo and real Baba Yao, nyahunyo ya Nyayo? Isn’t he leading in all the opinion polls, from Ipsos Synovate to Infotrack Harris? Unless his people on the ground have had their ears inhabited with grasshoppers by keeping them on the ground for long without moving, the truth is that the reason why Uhuru is fast catching up with him is the money issue. The suspects are employing all manner of tricks in the bag on their “grand march to State House”. So while CORD is busy reciting the constitution, promising change once it gets into government (which it is already in), the suspects are keeping their eyes on the goal, maximizing and utilizing all manner of campaign stratagems some legal, some not so legal including the use of some of its shady characters like William Kabogo why can’t Raila make use of his shady friend the human butcherer Old Nick’s Mungiki’s Maina Njenga? While CORD coalition is coming up with innovative ways of preventing vote fraud, Jubilee coalition is busy hunting and “buying” votes. Raila should counter all this maneuvers instead of bemoaning and planning how best to act after the electoral fraud.

Raila should not seek public sympathy, but votes. In Robert Green’s 48 Laws of Power, there is a Law No. 45 that  reads “Preach the need for change, but never reform too much at once.” This is a mirror of Raila. For while he is fond of using the word change, he does not change or reform. I ask, why was he seeking the hand of William Ruto the land grabber masquerading as a hustler if he believes in change? Why is he moving hand in hand with Kalonzo Musyoka and Mutula Kilonzo KANU’s poster boys who only discovered democracy after the fall of Moi as James Orengo once intimated? There is no man better versed in elections in Kenya than Raila, no experienced hand in the race than Raila a man whose tentacles reach far and wide. So let him use his influences to seal the loopholes that can be used to deny him his rightful victory, not address the media and allege manipulations. And to those who may use “rigging” as a pretext to cause mayhem, be warned that you have been put on notice, US president Barack Obama has asked you to rely on courts, not street battles, his Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson a former ambassador to Kenya is already on record as having put Kenya on the chopping block should their choice(s) not fit into the larger scheme of things. The United Nations Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng, has made it loud and clear that the government must ensure the safety of the citizens must be guaranteed by the government through preventing violence and international military intervention will be an option should the situation get out of hand. This is not 2008 where warlords had a field day. The lens of the whole world is trained on us now. So Raila and Uhuru, whoever loses, must follow the example of former Zambian president Rupiah Banda and concede defeat as a gentleman. Please do not be a sore loser in the words of Chess grandmaster Susan Polgar, win with class but lose with dignity!