MORE POLITICS...
Tony Blair steps down from the highest office in British politics and his last words are lessons to many who hold or hope to get power. After a decade in power he said: ‘‘Ten years is long enough and sometimes the only way you conquer the pull of power is to set it down.’’ This from a man who won three straight elections and helped bring peace in Northern Ireland after decades of violence. But he, too, was fodder for the untoward and became the first serving prime minister to be quizzed by police in a criminal investigation over a political party funding scandal.
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International media cannot think outside the box — their box, that is — even in times of tragedy. On the KQ plane crash, some said: "The people on board included one American, five Britons, one Swiss, one Swede, six Chinese and 15 Indians. The remainder were Africans, including 35 from Cameroon and nine from Kenya."
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ODM-Kenya never ceases to amaze. Will there be elections to pick a party flagbearer or will there not? The first point of difference was the number of delegates that would be used and where they would be picked — 2,000 and from the sub-location. The solution, if it can be called that, is touted to be 300 delegates from each constituency. The second puzzle to unravel was a Sh2 million nomination fee. It has been reduced to Sh1 million. That has spawned a third unknown — the election board. When did the likes of Kalonzo Musyoka, Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto realise the need for it? Reasons or excuses?
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On the intense rivalry for the ODM Kenya presidential ticket, B. Nyarango Junior says that those thinking that Lang’ata MP Raila Odinga will again say, “somebody else tosha (is suitable)” as he did for President Kibaki in 2002 must be dreaming. The man, Nyarango adds, cannot put all the resources into the campaign only to let someone else get to State House.
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The CIA factbook that posted on their website information that the Lang’ata MP Raila Odinga is the ‘unofficial’ leader of ODM-Kenya got it spot on as that seems to be the trend in the country, says Ochiba Lukandu. He adds: “For instance, Narc Kenya is the ‘unofficial’ ruling party; the President is the ‘unofficial’ Narc-K party leader; more than 80 per cent of the MPs have left their official political parties.”
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Government Spokesman Alfred Mutua can be useful in many ways. But that does not include deciding who to give permission to campaign for the Big Man in the House on the Hill. In any case some, including an Othaya activist, don’t think he has been around long enough to have that power.
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And finally …
Today is D-Day for Magarani. Which of the 10 horses in the race will come tops? One thing is clear though. The testing ground Magarini was to be for the General Election later in the year has not been. Without the much-touted two-horse race, Magarini pales into insignificance compared to last year’s by-elections.
