Commentaries
Should The Abagusii Still Embrace Raila And The ODM
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- Published on Tuesday, 21 July 2009 02:53
That the Prime Minister is immensely popular among the Abagusii is not in doubt.What is also not in doubt is that the support of the Abagusii is crucial for the PM's success in the 2012 elections.Numerically the community may not be much of a force but the PM seems aware that they do pack an awesome punch in other ways.This week's tour - like the earlier ones - proved that he does not take this support for granted.After over-zealously exerting himself in national matters,the PM now seems keen on reorganising his party and consolidating his supporter and the Abagusii being an extremely important cog in his political machine it was only prudent to touch base with them at the earliest opportunity.
ODM's - and in particular Raila Odinga's - ties with the Abagusii were severely tested last year during the post-election crisis when ODM youth attacked members of the community in several parts of the Rift Valley and also in Kisumu.Although he visited Kisumu at the height of the crisis and asked the youth to stop attacking the Abagusii,most of the damage had already been done.At his first rally in Kisumu after the elections at the Moi Stadium,he explained that the Abagusii had overwhelmingly voted for him but the electoral commission had manipulated the figures in an attempt to ensure that Mwai Kibaki attained 25% of the vote in the province.
As a result of these events,serious fault lines emerged in the relationships between the Abagusii on the one hand, and the Luo,the Kalenjin,ODM and Raila Odinga on the other.To this day - although the community is still firmly in ODM - among the Abagusii,opinion is divided on whether to forgive,forget and move on,or to re-evaluate our relationship with the party and the PM.There are those who believe what the PM did was too little too late and there are also those who believe what he did is the best he could under the circumstances.To objectively asses the two opinions,two facts must be borne in mind.
The first is that Raila Odinga played absolutely no role in starting the fires that he is busy trying to put out.The nature of violence visited upon the Abagusii in Kisumu was different from that in the Rift Valley.While there was talk of "kuondoa madoadoa" in the Rift Valley long before the elections,the Luo in Kisumu had no problem with the Abagusii living in their midst.ODM politicians did not incite,plan,fund or co-ordinate the violence against the Abagusii in Kisumu,unlike in the Rift Valley.Kisumu's violence was initially directed at the Kikuyu who melted away as soon as it begun leaving the Kisii and Asians to bear the brunt of the marauding youth whose motivation was mostly to loot.Once the Asians locked themselves up behind their secure,high-walled homes and the Abagusii took off to Kisii,the looters turned on their own.The Luo-on-Luo violence and robbery was evidence that the conflict had mutated from ethnic to class and the Abagusii and Asians just happened to be convenient targets being in the middle of that transition - the two were neither Luo nor poor.
The second is Raila Odinga's stand on the Waki report.The PM has been consistent,persistent and insistent that the perpetrators of the violence must be punished and has demonstrated his determination in word and deed.This he has done even in the face of the risk of losing one of his largest and most dedicated vote blocks - the Rift Valley.Punishing the murderous tribalist and ending impunity would benefit the entire country but if there is any one community that would derive the greatest benefit,it is the Abagusii.This is because it is the only community that was at the receiving end of the violence but neither retaliated nor participated in any way save for providing refuge for the warring groups.If Raila Odinga's efforts finally bear fruit,all that will not be in vain.
In a nutshell,Raila Odinga is blameless for whatever happened to the Abagusii in the diaspora after the 2007 elections and the community's interests - and indeed those of the rest of the country - will be served best under his presidency.
