How Raila, Kalonzo appointments drove the last nail into NASA’s wobbling coffin

Did President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga’s handshake render opposition NASA useless? Will it still alive in the new year 2019? Kenya’s main opposition coalition crosses into 2019 badly splintered after President Uhuru Kenyatta dealt it a potentially fatal blow that may lead to its natural death.

Political analysts argue that the net effect is that the government can now easily pile more taxes on Kenyans with President Kenyatta, who is likely to have an easy ride in his second term.

Kenyans are on their own, burdenedby skyrocketing commodity prices and a high cost of living. The new year 2019 is likely to bring about more hardships with Nasa deflated and defanged.

The appointment of ODM leader and Nasa chief Raila Odinga as AU Special Envoy for Infrastructure Development and Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka as South Sudan peace envoy was a political masterstroke by the President.

Both out of the way, sort of.

However, for many Kenyans, the appointments drove the last nail into Nasa’s wobbling coffin.

Raila and Kalonzo had been the Jubilee administration’s fiercest critics during Uhuru’s first term but the post-handshake events between the rivals, the Building Bridges initiative, and the recent continental appointments have drastically altered the terrain.

While Raila’s appointment had already spelled trouble for the opposition, Kalonzo sealed it when he accepted Uhuru’s appointment as the new head of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) on peace in South Sudan.

The duo’s appointments have thrown the opposition movement into disarray and shifted the political landscape ahead of the 2022 General Election.

Nasa — which consists of Raila Odinga’s ODM party, Kalonzo’s Wiper, Moses Wetang’ula’s Ford Kenya and Amani National Congress of Musalia Mudavadi — formed the main opposition movement.

With Raila’s and Kalonzo’s continental activities requiring frequent travels, the two will be missing from the ‘early campaigns’ already being witnessed in the country.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *