The Man Who Would Be President

People are dying and suffering. People are being displaced from their homes and children are going through all this torturos experiences. What kind of a life are they going to have? What is their future. Popular or not popular does not matter. Odinga needs to use his common sense and stop bragging that he will not give up without a fight. This is not about him, this about the people lives, the herd he is would want to lead. If he can't allow them the right to a peaceful life that they deserve now by honoring human life, what makes him think that he will be able to honeor them when he is in power. I do not think he is a great leader because a great leader thinks of his sheep. Its sad that Kenyans have to go through all because of greedy people who have a bush mentality and just want to pocket and look out for themselves.

I am not saying Kibaki did not rig the election. He has been able to restore peace for a long time and helped the Kenyan economy come. At least he is willing to compromise and share the leadership. Odinga needs to use his common sense. The kind of leader he is are the kind that have kiilled Africa in broad daylight.

Does it really matter who is president. Both of them are thieves. Raila is the MP in an area in which one of the largets slums is located and during hsi time he has done nothing for the people. Kibabki is what he is and is no better or worse. Both of them are basically fighting for more money and more power. If they were really about change and helping the people, they would have done it a long time ago. Both of them have the wealth and power to do so and neither one has done anything.

Kibaki's Government (read: the 5 henchmen who really make the decisions) failed to read the signs as early as the Constitutional referendum vote, they continued to alienate a large part of the country by refusing to deliver on one election promise after another. thier inept attempt to put together a facad of national unity a few months before the elections with only a president and no other form of names or suggested running mates (with the exeption of the Leader of the opposition, another Kikuyu) left the field wide open to Raila's ODM with thier populist message and a more 'united' front.

This set the stage for a Kikuyu vs. the rest of Kenya elections, the resounding defeat of may of Kibaki's key goverment people (of all tribes) as members of parliament was a clear message that Kenyans had had it with a leader who would not listen to them (a message that Kibaki rode to State House on in 2002).

All Raila had to do was ride the wave, which he did well, however he must remember that at least 50% of Kenyans did NOT vote for him (Kibaki + the 3rd Runner up) but on his way to giving a sitting president the biggest scare of his career (outside the 82 coup attemp), he must take responsibility for any populist remarks he and his ODM Pentagon may have made that could have fuelled the explosion of violence that followed the swearing in on Kibaki.

This situation has, i believe, already taken a life of its own, with retaliatory attacks and revenge the order of the day, it is up to Raila now (and the Kibaki kitchen cabinet) to prove to us thier real leadership qualities and put an end to this madness, and proove to us they were worth those 4 million votes we gave each of them.

All we as kenyans want is peace. sso we can have an enabling environment to go about our day to day activities.It does not really matter who the president is,what tribe etc is of no bearing at ll.We have seen Kibaki`s rule under which the economy was rejuvenated..to us this is a good leader albeit not a saint. He has his downside but that is eclipsed by his good side as oppesed to the opposite about Raila.

Raila owns a mansion in runda(kikuyu land) and another in langata (masai land) ,this tells you all about this guy,

This article is so biased an does not consider why Odinga is fighting so hard. He just wants power and he shoud blame himself and his friends for refusing to ratify the constitution during the last five years. He hoped he would win the election and wield as much power as the Kenyam President does have. If they had supported and ratified the constution they would not be in this mess. Furthermore as Kenyans we have lived in realtive peace and intermarried for years because we learned to get along as this is our country and we are proud of it. After decades of fighting among our neighbours we did not want to end up in the same predicament. or country to be among those statistics. And yet here we are in 2008 fighting because one man who feels like he deserves to be President despite what the fellow Kenyans want. He has insighted all this fighting since the day a winner was declared. If he was so concerned about the country he would have asked Kenyans to be peaceful and await furhter resoulition of the elections. I am ashamed to know a man who is so educated and who has witnessed so much injustice would allow his own country to deteriorate that much. After all, if worst comes to worst he can quickly grab his money and run away to a country that will host him as the country falls apart and he would be safe in hiding.

This article is focus on the main reason why these two tribes are at war with one another. POWER. Raila can state all what his fore-fathers did and what they had to go through that is just a disguise. He wants to rule all not caring who gets killed. He never cared about Kenyans, he was just waiting for the right time to show his true self. So you can write all these so called important facts about this person, and the contributions he has giving his people, but you can only fool yourself for so long. POWER is the root of all the destruction that is going on between the tribes. Enough said.

This article is disgustingly one sided that it does an injustice to real journalists everywhere. The word propaganda comes to mind. The irony however is that the article itself provides proof that Raila is not the person they are trying to paint him as. I also like the fact that Kenyans in 2008 are still electing their leaders based on how many elephants their grandfather killed. garbage!! Raila like Uhuru kenyatta believes that the presidency is their birth right. Remember when Moi was leaving the presidency? they both prostituted themselves to him hoping that he would leave the "power" in their hands. These guys dont care about Kenyans. The man sleeps comfortably in his mansion while his countrymen that he apparently cares for are being nurdered in HIS name "no raila no peace". but Newsweek doesnt report that part. He has been the savior of luos for decades but they are still the poorest constituency while he drives a hammer and jaguar. He has nothing to loose. If a massive war breaks out in kenya, he will simply take his family and go and live in one of his homes in europe while we kill each other. I believe that many of you have raised many points that this article conviniently ignores so I will not repeat them. I am in no way saying Kibaki is a saint but atleast he has a track record of trying to take kenya to the promised land. Dont forget he did this even after raila and his crew refused to serve in the goverment because they wanted more POWER! so you can say he appointed kikuyus to posts... but only after this so called politicians who care about the country refused to serve the government and did everything they could to block progress. This boils down to 1 thing POWER.

The violence in Kenya is a typical outcome event of ANY country / nation that was once under a colonist rule - preceding independence. You see, Kenyans have been living in harmony with each other, it is only in the last centurtry whereby certain stereotypes have propagated and fueled hatred amougst themselves. Innocent people are dying out there just because of a common power-struggle between the two tribes. Raila Odinga, being the sole-antagonist - his aim being to get what his father before him had wanted: total control of Kenya. I would not be surprised if he were getting donations from the west to fuel and pay for these 'malitia / thugs' to kill, maim and rape people into submission and to paint Kibaki's camp as the troublemakers. As far as the west is concerned: they want Raila in so that they can get those lucrative deals that Kibaki has thrown out. And they will not stop (nor provide any help or intervention) until the country is in submission - just like Iraq. This is as brutally honest as it gets my friends

The violence in Kenya is a typical outcome event of ANY country / nation that was once under a colonist rule - preceding independence. You see, Kenyans have been living in harmony with each other, it is only in the last centurtry whereby certain stereotypes have propagated and fueled hatred amougst themselves. Innocent people are dying out there just because of a common power-struggle between the two tribes. Raila Odinga, being the sole-antagonist - his aim being to get what his father before him had wanted: total control of Kenya. I would not be surprised if he were getting donations from the west to fuel and pay for these 'malitia / thugs' to kill, maim and rape people into submission and to paint Kibaki's camp as the troublemakers. As far as the west is concerned: they want Raila in so that they can get those lucrative deals that Kibaki has thrown out. And they will not stop (nor provide any help or intervention) until the country is in submission - just like Iraq. This is as brutally honest as it gets my friends

This article is disgusting. The interesting thing is that it actually contains in it all you need to know about the so called man who would be president. Your grandfather spearing an elephant is the last thing anyone cares about. So what? Kibaki went to the London school of economics but this article doesnt say that because it is skewed to make you think that Raila unlike Kibaki has "seen what life outside our dark continent is like" garbage! Raila is just like Uhuru kenyatta. they think that the presidency is a birth right. thats exactly why when Moi was leaving they both prostituted themselves to him in hopes that he "leaves the power" in their hands. HUMAN BEINGS... PEOPLE... are being killed in the name of no Raila no peace and he can actually sleep comfortably at night in one of his mega mansions when his countrymen are being murdered in his name. He doesnt care about anyone but himself. Kibaki is not a saint but at least he had the country making strides in the right direction. People need to wake up and realize that there is no day that the government will come to their doorstep with a check book and ask them how much they want on their check. It doesnt happen. yes even if raila was president. it doesnt work like that. The people killing others are a bunch of thieves who would be doing the same thing anyway but now they have a "reason". I read a comment in an article recently where a luo man said he thinks kibaki should go because the shop he bought his vegetables was owned by a kikuyu and the matatu he rode in was owned by a kikuyu. That is the level of reasoning this whole thing has come to. I wonder what the barriers of entry are in the hawking business. I dont blame the man. He has been brainwashed to think that that is the reason he is not as rich as ... maybe... Raila.

For soo many years the Odinga family has tried hard to get into power and what a horrible track record they have left. How much change will Raila bring to Kenya if he has not done anything being a Member of Parliament for his own people? I can tell you that Raila has been singing songs to the poor people that he knows he cant deliver. He has used the ignorance of these Kenyans to his advantage and now he proves that he is willing to take power at the cost of innocent lives. Odinga tried to over throw the government in 1982 and failed greatly and this time he has used the divide and conquer strategy which our poor Kenyans are eating up. Its a shame that neither him now Kibaki are trying to bring closure to the violence going on in Kenya. How many more have to die for these fat cats that are well fed, guarded by armed personnel and sleeping in their king size beds while the innocent clatch onto blankets in the cold not knowing what awaits them tomorrow. What makes these youth think that Raila has their best intrest at heart? Raila is trying to finish a useless dream his father started of ruling Kenya other than that I doubt his capability as a leader. He cannot even take responsibility of the acts of violence at home yet he is the one who called on the protest which ended up in violence......it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure this one out. So far his political track record is as bogus as a piece of used tissue papers, and thats the kind of leadership he will produce. Odinga let that dream go...no orange state house for you. Retire and enjoy your latter years. Kibaki say something to the people of Kenya bring healing, quail the blood thirst. After Annan leaves,,,its on you.

For soo many years the Odinga family has tried hard to get into power and what a horrible track record they have left. How much change will Raila bring to Kenya if he has not done anything being a Member of Parliament for his own people? I can tell you that Raila has been singing songs to the poor people that he knows he cant deliver. He has used the ignorance of these Kenyans to his advantage and now he proves that he is willing to take power at the cost of innocent lives. Odinga tried to over throw the government in 1982 and failed greatly and this time he has used the divide and conquer strategy which our poor Kenyans are eating up. Its a shame that neither him now Kibaki are trying to bring closure to the violence going on in Kenya. How many more have to die for these fat cats that are well fed, guarded by armed personnel and sleeping in their king size beds while the innocent clatch onto blankets in the cold not knowing what awaits them tomorrow. What makes these youth think that Raila has their best intrest at heart? His political track record is as bogus as a piece of used tissue papers, and thats the kind of leadership he will produce. Odinga call your people back and Mwai Kibaki bring calm amongst your supporters....let the healing begin already!!

this is just a tribal person that has been trying every way to ascend to the highest seat by taking advantage of the poor with empty promises .He is not fit to lead kenya with 42 different tribes who need to be each respected in there own way. Pitting one tribe over another is not smart leadership and we have seen that that has been his agenda from a long time ago. Before it was the kalenjin who were not good during Moi's time, now it is the kikuyu he has targeted pitting oether tribes to fight them. He is torn apart kenya with ethnic divide so that he may ascend to power. Surely kenya can do better than that.There is absolutely no justification for all the chaos that has caused in kenya and he should accept that he lost the election to a true leader Mwai Kibaki , who has proved beyond any doubt that he was taking us to the promised land. With the GDP of 7.1% growth rate we were rmoving in the right direction. Mwai Kibaki is a visionary leader and has proved that he can work with all the tribes. Odinga's cheap politics of exploiting the needy is not helping Kenya .People are dying for absolutely no reason.All this tribal violence was well planned and it is pathetic that Odinga can call himself a leader with such plans . Kenya and Africa needs true leaders like Mwai Kibaki and Gaddafi who have been trying to sort out the true issues that face this continent. Divide and rule policy will not work with Africa and Odinga is busy propelling that.

i am a liberian who knows what the so-called change and liberation of all is all about.fellow african brothers of kenya,beware and quickly put your house in order.
Sorbor

Kenia is a rich but underdeveloped country. Countries like this need a UN intervention and transparent elections. It is a shame that tribal leaders pursue their own interests, not the Nation's!