Why Raila chose ‘thinkers’ to lead his campaign board

Orange party leader Raila Odinga has set up a 12-member presidential campaign board which, he hopes, will catapult him to the highest office on the land.

The Opposition leader has appointed three first-term governors – Ndiritu Muriithi, Anyang Nyong’o and Charity Ngilu – and a similar number of university dons, Prof Peter Wanyande, Prof Karuti Kanyinga and Prof Makau Mutua, to craft and implement his 10-point manifesto in his quest for the top seat.

Raila has also included in his campaign board technocrats, Journal of Academy of Business and Economics managing director Betty Montet, former Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Commissioner in charge of Domestic Tax Elizabeth Meyo, media  mogul SK Macharia, Seth Kakusye, advocate Kanchory Saitaboi and National Gender and Equality Commissioner Priscilla Nyokabi.

In previous elections, Raila has always relied on politicians to guide his State House campaign.

For instance, in 2017, Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi was elected to chair the National Super Alliance campaign committee.

Business experts

In picking a cocktail of technocrats, business experts, lawyers, political scientists and politicians to drive his fifth stab at the presidency, Raila has passed the message that he is determined to focus his campaign on key issues of economy, corruption, health, education and social welfare, among others.

And with only seven months to the polls, Raila is said to have roped in SK Macharia, a long-time friend and representative of the Mount Kenya Foundation, to mobilise and monitor deployment of campaign funds from the group.

Foundation brings together wealthy business people from the vote-rich Mt Kenya region who have had influence on previous elections.

Other prominent members of the group include Equity Bank founder Peter Munga, former minister George Muhoho, former KRA boss Michael Waweru and business mogul Paul Ngugi, among others.

Raila has picked Law prof Mutua alongside political scientists Wanyande and Kanyinga to fine-tune legal, political and economic messages that resonate well with the Kenyan electorate.

Prof Nyong’o, a long-time buddy of Raila, has taught at the University of Nairobi, El Colegio de Mexico, and Addis Ababa universities, and joined the African Academy of Sciences as head of programmes from 1987 to 1992. 

Having been involved in the struggle against authoritarian rule in Kenya throughout his academic career, the Political Science prof was among leaders who made a breakthrough into multiple party politics in 1992 when he was elected Kisumu Rural MP and was the first secretary general of ODM party. 

Academic career

Sources say he was picked selected into the team due to his wide experience in Kenya’s electoral affairs as well as his input and expertise on the Universal Health Coverage, which has been Raila and President Uhuru Kenyatta’s novel dream.

Ngilu, a first-term governor and a former member of the 2007 Pentagon, has been a strong proponent of  Raila’s latest presidential bid, frequently urging Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka to drop his bid in favour of the former.

Last evening, an elated Ngilu described the team as “a great think-tank” that would shape the country’s politics.

“What a wonderful team to work with.  Kenyans should expect issue-based campaigns.

This is not a team to waste time on propaganda and personal mudslinging. We want our candidate to tell Kenyans what he shall do for them,” Ngilu told People Daily.

Prof Kanyinga is an accomplished development researcher and scholar with extensive national and international experience and exposure.

He has conducted numerous research programmes and projects at the Institute for Development Studies, UoN, in the past 29 years. 

In his latest research study on the cost of the 2017 elections, Kanyinga argues that it is because of financial trends that few of the political elite, if any, would leave anything to chance.

“Our survey established that, on the whole, the more a candidate spends, the greater their chances of electoral victory.

For instance, Woman Rep candidates who won their races spent almost three times as much as those who were unsuccessful,” he found.

Prof Wanyande, a veteran political scientist, has taught at UoN for at least 30 years and has worked in government and regional organisations such as the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and served in the defunct Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution.

Wanyande supported Raila’s call to revive the economy, create mass job opportunities for the youth, reduce government spending and restructure the crippled civil service. 

He appeared alongside Raila when the ODM leader first explained in public why his administration would offer Sh6,000 to poor households should he be elected president.

“Any solution must be people-centered. The statement read (Raila’s speech) has a diagnosis that touches on at least three things.

One is on governance. Management of our public affairs has been a challenge for a very long time.

“But that challenge is attributed to a number of things, one of which is also contained in the statement.

That is the quality of leadership. Unfortunately, in this country, we have a tendency to give very little attention to the quality of political leadership yet that is so key in terms of influencing the nature of governance,” said Wanyande.

Sources within ODM say that Prof Wanyande spent the better of last year compiling and documenting trends and statistics on social-economic issues and could be responsible for Raila’s social welfare blue print.

Three things

Governor Muriithi is retired President Mwai Kibaki’s nephew and his appointment to the board could be interpreted to mean that Kibaki supports Raila’s candidacy and brings Uhuru’s footprints in the Raila campaign.

A first-time governor, who won his Laikipia seat as an independent candidate in 2017, Muriithi brings leadership and management experience to the group. 

The former Laikipia West MP and Kibaki-era assistant minister for Industrialisation will be instrumental in shaping Raila’s strategy to succeed Uhuru, particularly in Central region, where he has been working alongside Governors Francis Kimemia (Nyandarua), Lee Kinyanjui (Nakuru) and James Nyoro (Kiambu) to sell the ODM leader in a region that has previously voted overwhelmingly against him.

Raila allies who sought anonymity disclosed that Meyo will have sweeping powers to manage the campaign, fundraise, hire and fire staff and manage logistics.

She will implement the board’s strategic decisions, head the campaign secretariat and make all vital decisions besides acting as the “sole campaign spokesperson”.

“During her tenure at the KRA, Meyo was  pivotal in  authority’s policy and strategy development.

She spearheaded the rollout of iTax, which has revolutionised revenue collection in Kenya,” Raila wrote of her appointment.

On the other hand, Kakusye is a former ODM aspirant in Makueni and currently a member of the party’s disciplinary committee.

Lawyer Kanchory represented Deputy President William Ruto in court before 2013 when his United Democratic Movement faced hurdles over registration after some Kenyan moved to court. After the court blocked its registration, Ruto moved on to form the United Republic Party that later joined President Kenyatta’s TNA.