Raila’s chief agent lifts lid on the behind-the-scenes chaos, power struggles among top officials
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Raila's chief agent, Saitabao Ole Kanchory lifts lid on the behind-the-scenes chaos, and power struggles among top officials that led to the election loss
Raila’s chief agent, Saitabao Ole Kanchory lifts lid on the behind-the-scenes chaos, and power struggles among top officials that led to the election loss.
Saitabao Ole Kanchory, the chief agent for Azimio leader Raila Odinga in the August 9, 2022, presidential election, has revealed the internal strife, power battles, and instability among top campaign managers that might have cost him the presidency.
Kanchory refers to the coalition’s electoral command center, which was run by Muhoho Kenyatta, the younger brother of the then-president Uhuru Kenyatta, as a tower of Babel in his recently published book “Why Baba is not The Fifth.”
He revealed an alleged cold war between former Information and Communication Technology Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru and former Interior principal secretary Karanja Kibicho.
Initially, Dr. Kibicho was the one calling the shots at the command centre before Mr. Mucheru took the reins.
During Dr. Kibicho’s time, Mr. Kanchory says, the team was focused and results-oriented and had clear targets. All this while, however, there had been a silent push-and-pull pitting Dr. Kibicho against Mr. Mucheru.
“The day it became clear PS Kibicho had been ousted from the centre of operations was when Muhoho unilaterally announced, in the middle of one of our meetings, that Prof Mutua would henceforth be in charge of the command centre,” he says.
Kanchory also explained how some of Uhuru’s senior government officials remained disinterested in campaigning for Raila as they felt that they would not make it in the ODM leader’s inner circle ahead of other people who were already close to him.
Some of Uhuru’s men backing Raila felt sidelined when the latter unveiled his partial Cabinet that excluded them.
In the book, the chief agent claims that a majority of the top officials resorted to using the campaign period to make money in readiness for going home as they felt they were unlikely to make it into Raila’s government.
He recounts how he came across a stack of cash in one of the former CS’s office.
Kanchory also blamed MP Junet Mohammed and Makua Mutua for the confusion and disorganization at its command centre that was located in Westlands.
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Mr. Kanchory lists Mr. Muhoho, Mr. Mohamed, Mr. Mucheru and Prof Mutua as key people in the running of the election nerve centre that was located in Westlands.
The book talks of how Azimio chief executive officer Elizabeth Meyo was sidelined despite spending most of her time at the command centre.
Orange Democratic Movement Executive Director Oduor Ongwen was equally edged out from the nerve centre after being accused of running a parallel operation. He later kept off the operations in protest.
Kanchory, in a media interview, stated that Muhoho, brother of former President Uhuru Kenyatta, was tasked with managing the election command centre.
However, Muhoho was allegedly manipulated and easily convinced to change strategies at the last minute, which messed up the whole poll management process.
Nonetheless, Kanchory lauded former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s brother stating that he was brilliant and organized at fast.
“I was very convinced that he meant well. He is a brilliant and decent human being. But I will never understand how he watched the whole command centre, which was practically in his control,” Kanchory stated during an interview on KTN News.
“He was fooled, and I do not believe it was a long con, but for someone as brilliant as Muhoho Kenyatta to have swallowed lies and bait and been fooled by other players is a matter that is confounding, to say the least,” he added.
Saitabao Ole Kanchory was Raila’s chief agent during the August 2022.
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