Election 2002 
Sunday, December 8, 2002 

Interview with Raila Odinga 
by DENNIS ONYANGO

Mr Odinga: The charges that I want the vice-presidency are embarrassing to me. I have never said I want to be a vice-president in a Narc government. The claims are baseless and unfounded. They are designs of our adversaries trying to divide us. It is strange that people are already worried about positions. They are like hunters who begin to fight over the spoils of an animal that has not been killed; somebody claiming, "the leg was mine" or "I was promised the ribs", when the animal is still out there in the jungle. Unless the animal is killed, there will be no spoils to be shared. Unless we win this election and the presidency, there will be no vice-presidency to be given out to anybody. I want Narc to win elections. Once that's done, I will be happy to be a backbencher in a Narc government.

But there was a line-up at the beginning. Is it still the one you are working with or has something changed?

Mr Odinga: There was a Memorandum of Understanding between the National Alliance Party of Kenya (NAK) and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), when we formed the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc). The two parties were to go to the election together as equal partners. Once we won the elections, we were to share the positions on a 50-50 basis. Based on the draft new constitution, one party was to get the presidency, the other the premiership. There were to be two vice-presidents and three deputy prime ministers.

But the elections are going to be held under the current Constitution, which empowers the President to appoint a Cabinet, including the Vice-President. In that context, the question of a position that was promised need not arise. 

Why does a section of the Ford-Kenya segment of Narc sound uneasy in the party?

Mr Odinga: An organisation as diverse as Narc will have internal disaffection and complaints. But we have a machinery to deal with disputes. Colleagues who feel aggrieved can direct their grievances through the proper party channels. It is bad for us to wash our dirty linen in public.

What exactly is your position and role in Narc? 

Mr Odinga: Narc is a coalition between the original NAK and the LDP. In creating that union, we set up an organ known as the Summit. That is the supreme authority that decides policies and strategies. The Summit is chaired by Mr Moody Awori. It has eight members and I am one of them. I am an equal partner. In Narc, we are a team. No individual player can be greater than the team. 

It is said that NARC may be getting bogged down, failing to keep up momentum. What is your view?

Mr Odinga: Narc is too strong, too focused to slow down. I want us to look at this campaign as a race. In a race, if you are a good athlete, you must pace yourself. There are times when you accelerate and times when you slow down. There may have been a small lull, but it was part of our strategy. It is not that Narc is slowing down. This campaign is scientifically designed. We don't want to peak too early. We don't want to run around without telling people anything. A campaign is not just running or flying around.

President Moi looks too confident even when his party is obviously threatened by Narc. What in your view is the basis of his confidence and how is NARC taking it?

Mr Odinga: You have to understand that President Moi is on our radar 24 hours a day, every day. But we believe the confidence he exudes is natural. In a combat situation, the general must always give confidence and courage to his troops even when he feels vulnerable. I want to liken his confidence to that of Adolf Hitler in his last days. The Allied forces were sharing Berlin. Hitler's empire was definitely falling. But he kept issuing orders from his bunkers, asking the Germans to fight to the last man. Hitler caused more casualties and much more damage that way. President Moi knows the game is up, but he is not betraying his troops. He wants to make them fight on. He knows he is not a candidate and his safety is assured.

How is Narc prepared to counter possible rigging?

Mr Odinga: Rigging has helped Kanu win in the past. We are not naive to believe there will be no rigging. There are signs already. There's buying of voters' cards, tampering with the voters' register and interference with the ECK's recruitment of polling clerks. There are reports of attempts to print extra ballot papers and attempts to buy already nominated candidates to pull out of the race. They target Western, Eastern and North Eastern provinces.

Will Narc accept a Kanu victory in the coming elections?

Mr Odinga: If it is genuine and fair. If Kanu wins a fair contest, we will accept defeat. But we want to urge President Moi to give a clear public undertaking that he will accept a Narc victory. We want to avoid what happened in Ghana where the then President Jerry Rawlings tried to persuade his losing candidate to reject the results. He tried to involve the military but the military declined to interfere.

You moved from the opposition to Kanu and back to the opposition. How do you want Kenyans to judge you?

Mr Odinga: I want to be seen as somebody with a vision and the strategy and tactics to execute that vision. My vision is that I want change. The co-operation, partnership and merger were strategies and tactics to achieve that vision. When I moved to Kanu, my strategy was to either take over that party, democratise it and use it as an instrument of change, or to move in, substantially weaken it and jump out. Even if the Opposition united then, it was not going to shake an entrenched Kanu. I came up with the term New Kanu to differentiate it from the old undemocratic one. The moment I realised that undemocratic forces were entrenched in Kanu, I walked away with a huge chunk of the democratic forces that were being stifled. We did it. I am looking for change.

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