September 5 is the date that Kenyans are waiting patiently for because that is when the Supreme court will be giving its ruling on the presidential petitions that are before it.
The court might nullify the August general elections and order a fresh presidential election or it may just upheld William Ruto’s declaration as the fifth head of state. Fresh elections are to be conducted in 60 days.
In case the Supreme court orders a repeat of the election, there are a number of things that ODM leader Raila Odinga must do in order to beat Ruto in the rerun or run off depending on how the court will decide according to political analysts.
Firstly, Raila must stop overlying on deep state and support of president Uhuru Kenyatta and put his personal strategies in place. Raila believed that having the support of the deep state was a sure bet that he will emerge victorious since. He though deep state would take charge of the election. Due that, there are reports that his team did not bother to field agents to many polling stations especially in Mt Kenya region and Rift valley and the duties were delegated to Jubilee agents. That is the biggest mistake that Raila should avoid in future.
Donald Kipkorir, a lawyer who is a staunch supporter of Raila said that the ODM leader was betrayed by people close to him in a tweet on Thursday and that is why he lost the presidency.
“Raila Odinga was let down & betrayed by people closest to him & those who ran AZIMIO Secretariat. They lied to him they had everything under control. They lied all agents were in place & paid. Now, they are lying about Supreme Court case instead of working on it to be foolproof,” the lawyer said.
Therefore, Raila must take charge despite delegating duties to his helpers. He must ensure that his helpers, including an effective secretariat, carry their duties without fail because that is what they are paid for.
The former prime minister should also not trust IEBC. In that case, he should monitor the moves by the commissioners especially the chairman of the commission and every detail of the plans they have for elections.Â
Finally, Branding and messaging. He must consider the kind of messaging that he intend to put across within the two month period because many of his supporters are now tired over his unsuccessful bids.
Some believe that he will now never be president because of the curse and Raila has to work harder to overturn such beliefs. Some politicians who supported him also crossed over to his opponent’s side.
There will be a celebration if the court nullifies the general elections and there he must put strategies in place to keep that momentum, and give hope to his supporters, within the two months before another election is held.
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