My cleaning lady was talking to me a few days ago and telling me that she will no longer be calling Baba ‘Baba’ – she only has one father, and that’s the one she buried many years ago.
It would appear that some Kenyans have finally gotten tired of Raila’s schemes. There is, after all, a limit to how long you can make unfounded claims, and still be given a pass for random grandiose late declarations.
The thing with elections is that there is always going to be some unhappy parties. It is the way of things, is it not? For every action, there must be a reaction, and therefore for every winner, there must be a loser.
The things we are meant to learn in school, I suppose, or through socialisation, include learning how to be a good sport at losing. Because you will not always win. It is a lesson Raila has not learnt.
Then again, we are assuming that this is a lesson he does want to learn. It is hard to forget the hordes of people Raila called upon to come to his side, to fight for his rights and the rights of a democracy, that led to horrendous bloodshed.
And that bloodshed was stopped by a Handshake – by a promise that his place was still secured in the changing government.
But what about all those people who already died? Does Raila care about them, or is this simply about another Hhandshake? Another payoff?
At this point, the new leadership is in, and there doesn’t seem to be much our opposition can do about it. The boxes at Bomas were empty. The cases are over. Kofi Annan, God rest his soul, is dead.
Coming now, months after an election, to declare that this cannot be the end, that the numbers were wrong, that action must be taken once more – feels like a petulant mockery of the very democracy we are trying to test and uphold – that same democracy that shone the last time an election was contested.
This feels like a joke. It feels like a last weak straw aimed at maintaining relevance in a world determined to move on. It feels like being a sore loser.
There are other ways Raila can maintain his relevance, make an impact, keep his memory unsullied.
This is, after all, a man who risked his life and that of his family’s, for the freedoms we enjoy in this country – even serving time for crimes that were not crimes. That cannot be erased.
This is the man who spearheaded a system of devolution that benefits so many of us today. This doesn’t – and shouldn’t - have to get ugly.
Raila has been in power longer than I’ve been alive, and therefore, he has strings to pull that I don’t even know exist. He can still make a huge impact on how Kenya is built and run – by using that power for good.
He is still leader of a strong opposition that needs a solid and dependable, as opposed to vengeful, head. There’s so much to fix in Kenya! – and truly, you do not even need to be president to do it.
The real test, now, is finding out how long this tantrum is going to last, and seeing what he’s going to do without this apparently all-important Commander In Chief title. If anyone can do anything, it’s him.
