ODM leader Raila Odinga was defeated in the presidential election by UDA’s William Ruto, who was vying for the first time, for the top position.
Ruto won by 7.1 million votes while Raila garnered 6.9 million votes. The former prime minister was giving his fifth try at the presidency and everything pointed that he was set for his biggest win ever.
He had the backing of Mt. Kenya leaders including president Kenyatta and the government in general. He also had support of Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka, who is considered as the Kamba kingpin. Aside from Kalonzo all the three outgoing Ukambani governors had supported him before Alfred Mutua(Machakos) pulled out.
In Western Kenya, Raila was backed by Defense CS Eugene Wamalwa, Kakamega governor Wycliffe Oparanya, COTU boss Francis Atwoli among other big names in the region. It was a sure deal that he had secured Western Kenya except Bungoma where Ruto was leading according to opinion polls.
In Coast, Raila’s support base is much stronger than Ruto’s and most of the votes in Nyanza are purely his but with all that his presidential bid was unsuccessful.
There was a time however that Kalonzo warned Raila that he was bound to lose if he did not pick him as a running mate and seems that has come to pass. This was back in April, when the deadline for picking running mates was fast approaching and a number of people were to undergo an assessment, to establish who was best suited to deputize Raila.
“Stop talking about the selection of Mr Odinga’s deputy president position in public as this may portray us as weak. Let us keep quiet and watch how they approach the selection of the deputy president and pray. Everything is plain so why should we waste time? People know that when Raila takes the Wiper team on board, he will be the next President of Kenya. But there is a problem when Raila leaves Kalonzo,” Kalonzo said during a rally in Kitui.
When Raila settled for Martha Karua as his running mate, the Wiper party leader went ahead to reveal that he was also in the race and also named his running mate on the same day. Kalonzo however later decided to cool down his tempers and back Raila’s bid.
However, there has been a story that Raila was cursed by his father Oginga Odinga that he will never be president because he disrespected him. The incident reportedly occurred in 1992, when Raila together with several youths stormed a Ford Kenya delegates meeting that his father was addressing.
Oginga was the chairman of Ford Kenya then. He tried to calm Raila down but he engaged in a shouting match with his father. Oginga then told him that he had also struggled to get power from Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Arap Moi unsuccessfully and that Raila was bound to undergo the same till his sunset days.
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