By Anderson Ojwang
Internal Security Permanent Secretary Dr Raymond Omollo could have inadvertently walked himself into the slippery and treacherous altar of the political negotiation dispute between President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) and the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
Omollo, a key UDA pillar in Nyanza, could have been innocently articulating a position he viewed as fitting the current political friendship between President Ruto and the Luo community, but now he finds himself in a frying pan.
The ODM leadership has come out with guns blazing, including the party leader, Dr Oburu Oginga; Deputy Party Leader Simba Arati; Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi; and Minority Leader Junet Mohammed, among others. They are now backing down and boiling for a battle.
Omollo recently challenged the Luo community not to demand a written pre-election agreement with President Ruto.
“We as a community, when Ruto stood with the late Raila Odinga in the 2007 presidential election, you know the results.
When Raila wanted to be president, he was asked to sign an agreement with various communities.
When he met the Kalenjin community and, after concluding the meeting, he asked them for a paper to write the agreement.
But the Kalenjin told him that you are our brother; we don’t need to have a written agreement. When you get [there], you will see what you give to us,” he said.
Omollo said anyone from the community demanding a written agreement would be committing an act of witchcraft.
“It can be an act of witchcraft for the Luo community to demand that they must have a written agreement with President Ruto.
We need to be good people. Do good to others, too. If there is a table for negotiation, we will sit where William is. How many of you agree with my proposal?
If there is anyone who wants a written agreement, he will find us as the Luo community behind the President, and we will sign with him,” he said.
When Hell Broke Loose
Omollo finally found himself on the receiving end, with ODM coming out with guns blazing and treating him as a stranger in the political matrix. ODM went on the offensive, and what was deemed a newfound unity between the party leadership and the PS was thrown out of the window.
The old wounds reopened, and now the leaders have their guns trained on Omollo as he tries to wriggle himself out of the altar.
“During my temporary absence from active political engagement, I have observed with concern attempts by certain individuals, even some non-ODM members, to exploit the situation by prescribing how our party should negotiate with UDA, including whether or not such negotiations should culminate in a written agreement,” Dr Oburu wrote.
He added: “Let me be unequivocal. ODM is an established political institution with legitimate structures, clear objectives and experienced leadership capable of holding negotiations in the interests of the party and Kenyans.”
Kisumu Woman Representative and Dr Oburu’s younger sister, Ruth Odinga, said the agreement and negotiations should not be viewed from the Luo community’s perspective, as ODM was a national party.
“A statement has been attributed to Interior PS Dr Raymond Omollo, claiming that the Luo community simply has to trust and work with UDA, without any agreement between the two. I find this statement curious, and its timing worrying.
First, I reject, in the strongest terms, any attempt to present ODM as a Luo party and, therefore, to suggest that the Luo are the ones party to such an agreement. Let it be made clear that ODM is a national political party with representation across the counties.
Its strongholds include Western, Coast and Turkana, among others; Nyanza is only one of them. Even within Nyanza, we have both Luo Nyanza and Kisii Nyanza. Any attempt to reduce ODM to a Luo party is therefore troubling, and one reads bad faith into it,” she wrote.
Mbadi said those trying to make the negotiations a Luo affair had missed the point.
“If you don’t want [to], leave. We are not talking about an agreement between the Luos and William Ruto. We know Ruto means well for everybody, not just the Luos alone.
But political parties must enter into a structured agreement. You cannot go to an election with two political parties without a structured agreement,” he said.
Mbadi said the two parties had formed technical teams and asked ODM leaders to stop discussing the matter publicly.
“Therefore, ODM and UDA are already in talks. Those who don’t know, please keep quiet. We are agreeing and forming a government of national unity.
I want to ask ODM members to desist from commenting on the unity talks between ODM and UDA because the party leader has already spoken.
We have a team of 10 people working on the policies of the two parties and another technical team working on the structure of the government,” he said.
But Omollo has also received support from other ODM MPs who prefer unconditional support for Ruto.
Gem MP Elisha Odhiambo, Bondo MP Gideon Ochanda and Nyando MP Jared Okello have thrown their weight behind Ruto’s re-election, arguing that ODM and the Luo community should support the President without making a written agreement a condition for political cooperation.
“We can’t rely on contracts to build relationships. Let’s build relationships on kinship.
“Whether the relationship is conditional or non-conditional, for us now, that does not hold. As long as we all rally behind the President, the rewards will automatically flow to us,” Odhiambo said.
Punching Bag
As the election nears, Omollo will find himself in the political firing line, with most of the guns aimed at him.
