Friday, December 24, 2021 – Embattled Lawyer Miguna Miguna has warned ODM Leader Raila Odinga and his team not to celebrate ahead of the 2022 elections.
This is after it emerged that Raila has more MPs than his fierce rival, Deputy President William Ruto, as was witnessed during the first and Second reading of the controversial Political Parties (Amendment) Bill 2021.
The Bill saw William Ruto’s lieutenants, who have often claimed they have more numbers in the bicameral parliament than both President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga, easily outnumbered; a move that left the handshake team in early celebrations.
But venting yesterday, the exiled lawyer urged Raila and his team to forget about the presidency.
He cited 2002 and 2007 when presidential hopefuls who had more numbers of MPs supporting their candidature lost, stating that a similar scenario is more likely to play out in the 2022 elections.
According to him, the then KANU presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta who the late President Daniel Moi threw weight behind his candidature, had more MPs than retired President Mwai Kibaki of PNU.
However, Kibaki with little support from MPs trounced Uhuru Kenyatta with a landslide to succeed Daniel Moi, who had been in power for more than two decades.
A similar trend was witnessed during the 2007 elections where Raila had more legislators supporting his second stab at the presidency than those who were supporting incumbent Mwai Kibaki but he still lost.
As a result, Miguna asked Raila not to start celebrations too early as they are likely to be disappointed.
“In 2002, Moi had more MPs than Kibaki but Kibaki defeated Uhuru who was Moi’s candidate. In 2007, Raila’s ODM had more MPs than Kibaki’s PNU but it was Kibaki who became president.”
“I’m cautioning Raila’s team to stop their usual premature celebrations,” Miguna said in a Tweet.
