Mr Ronny Raburu, a Kenyan businessman based in Tanzania, has come forward to explain how he helped opposition leader Raila Odinga settle on the name of the coalition, Azimio la Umoja, whose ticket he used to vie for the presidency in the 2022 General Election.
In an interview, Mr Raburu explained his role in coining the name of the coalition they hoped would win power at the polls.
Mr Raburu says his role was not contractual as he only suggested the names to Mr Odinga, a personal friend whom he says he has hosted several times during his visits to the neighbouring country.
"H.E Raila called me as his friend sometime in the second week of August 2021 to see if I could tap into my social capital here in Tanzania and come up with a good Kiswahili slogan/name that he could use as a coalition name to rally Kenyans to unity. He wanted to tap into the good Kiswahili spoken in Tanzania," Mr Raburu told the Nation in an interview on Thursday.
His revelation comes at a time when the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya party is embroiled in a bitter internal war pitting Mr Odinga's ODM against its coalition partners as the battle for control of the outfit heats up. A battle that threatens to sink the coalition.
ODM's partners in Azimio include former president Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee, Kalonzo Musyoka's Wiper, Eugene Wamalwa's DAP-K, Gideon Moi's Kanu and Peter Munya's PNU.
The ODM party has dared its coalition partners to oust Mr Odinga as coalition leader and kick the party out of Azimio, boasting that it controls the "instruments of power".
This now raises the question of who owns the Azimio la Umoja outfit launched by Mr Odinga in Nakuru town on August 17, 2021, a year before the August 9, 2022 General Election.
Mr Raburu explains how Mr Odinga, whom he describes as a close ally, approached him with a request to suggest possible names based on the social ideologies of former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere.
According to communications seen by the Nation between Mr Odinga and Mr Raburu on August 15, 2021, two days before the ODM leader launched Azimio in Nakuru, the Tanzania-based businessman suggested at least six names for the former Prime Minister.
Azimio leader Raila Odinga with Tanzania-based Kenyan businessman Ronny Raburu (second right) and other guests in Arusha.
Photo credit: Pool
They included Matumaini Mapya, Kenya ya Wote - Inawezekana, Mwanzo Mpya, Kenya Moja, Ari Mpya, Nguvu Mpya, Kenya Moja, Gundi ya Pamoja, Sema Hapana kwa Ukabila, Azimio la Umoja, Kenya Mpya, Sauti Moja, Kenya Moja, Mbele Pamoja or Sauti Moja, Kenya Moja - Natulenge Mbele.
"My friends helped me come up with many names, the Azimio la Umoja was mine. Having taken an interest in understanding Tanzania's homogeneity, which came from Azimio la Arusha in 1967, I was inspired to use the same by simply replacing Arusha with Umoja, hence Azimio la Umoja," Raburu explained.
Mr Odinga's spokesman Dennis Onyango told the Nation that the ODM leader borrowed the coalition's name from the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere's Azimio la Arusha of 1967.
The Arusha Declaration (Azimio la Arusha) was Tanzania's most prominent political declaration of African socialism, 'Ujamaa' or brotherhood.
"The Tanzania-based hotelier, who has extended his hustle to Arusha, was tasked by Raila Odinga to come up with a name for the current opposition coalition. To this day, Ronny Raburu keeps the sheet of paper with the 11 suggestions. Azimio La Umoja won the heart of the "Pope", said Mr Buke.
In the last presidential campaign in 2017, Mr Raburu, who said he had never met Mr Odinga, organised funding for Raila's campaign by bringing together several Tanzanian politicians under the chairmanship of an Arusha mayor.
"Fearing that the counting of the presidential election would be messed up the Kenyan way, he secured the hosting logistics for the 2017 foreign counting to be headquartered in Tanzania. The 'Pope' authorised Simekha Jme and I to travel secretly to TZ to carry out the missions. The operation was leaked to the media. The Sunday Nation carried it as a headline," Mr Buke recalls.
Mr Raburu says Mr Odinga "has a very deep love for Tanzania. There is so much rich history about this country, Tanzania, and so it doesn't shock me that he makes many references to Tanzania in his speeches.
Mr Raburu, a 52-year-old Moi University graduate, says he wasn't sure Mr Odinga would go for any of his proposals.
"When he finally launched them in Nakuru on August 17, 2021, barely two days after I sent him the proposals, I felt so elated, I had high personal expectations after that and I think that's normal and human," he said.
Azimio secretary general Junet Mohamed would write to the Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu on August 27, 2021, ten days after the launch of the name in Nakuru, to preserve the name.
In her response to Mr Mohamed's request, Ms Nderitu confirmed that the name would be considered for use as the name of a political party coalition on October 28, 2021.
"Reference is made to your letter dated August 27, 2021. Your request has been considered as required by law and the name Azimio la Umoja has been reserved for use as a political party coalition name," Ms Nderitu wrote.
Mr Raburu says he was devastated when Mr Odinga lost the 2022 elections "because I believed in his transformational leadership and knew he would create jobs that some of us could benefit from to come back home and rebuild a just nation".
He applauds Mr Odinga for accepting to donate his lieutenants to the broad-based government, saying the move has helped stabilise the country.
"Peace and stability are key to the economic growth of any nation. Raila Odinga is a very patriotic leader who wants Kenya well, he had to put Kenya's interest first.
"I strongly believe that this agreement will take into consideration the issues raised by the Gen Zs, which are similar to what he has been championing since the Kenya Kwanza government came to power."
