NAIROBI, April 1 – Kenya’s Supreme Court on Saturday confirmed the election of President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President-elect William Ruto, paving way for their swearing-in set for April 9. The decision also raised questions on the political future of their defeated opponents in the presidential election — Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka, who are currently Prime Minister and Vice-President in the outgoing government of retiring President Mwai Kibaki.
This comes in the wake of the new 2010 Kenyan Constitution which does not offer a political lifeline to any person who is not on a political party’s nomination list two months prior to an election, thus leaving Odinga and Musyoka with no role to play.
And it is not only the two of them who will have to be re-strategizing their political careers. Former Member of Parliament for Gichugu and also a defeated presidential candidate, Martha Karua, former Sabatia MP Musalia Mudavadi, former Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth and former permanent secretary in the Education Ministry professor James Ole Kiyapi will all be looking for ways to stay politically relevant after losing in their bids for elective office.
A discussion which dominated the debate in Parliament during the crafting of the new Constitution centred on the requirement for a nomination list to be submitted to the Registrar of Political Parties two months in advance of elections as it was argued that politicians faced the risk of one being politically forgotten after being forced to be away from the public eye for five years.
Karua and Kenneth have since announced they will be taking a break from active politics for now, while Mudavadi, who contetsted under the Amani Coalition, has hinted at signing a post-election pact with the Jubilee Coalition of the president-elect, perhaps negotiating for appointment as a Cabinet secretary.
For Odinga and Musyoka, however, it is now a wait and see game what route the two political leaders will take to remain politically relevant should they opt to make a comeback in 2017.
BERNAMA
