To the immortal men and women who surround the enigma, Raila Odinga, I send you greetings. Receive them in the air. Today, I’m taking the risk of penning this letter to you. I call it a risk because, time and again, you have been perceived as people who may be allergic to external advice, often resorting to blame games and being defensive; tools you’ve mastered to avoid accountability. But at the risk of regurgitating what has already been shared publicly, let me say this:
Surely, you can’t always blame other people and external factors for unfavorable results. In the just-concluded African Union Commission (AUC) chairperson elections, as soon as Raila announced that he wouldn’t contest in the seventh round—where the Djibouti candidate was declared the winner—you didn’t hesitate to conjure and spread all manner of theories and blame games.
“It’s Uhuru Kenyatta who traveled to Addis and worked against Baba.”
Or, “Uhuru infiltrated Raila’s campaign with his loyalists who fed him information, which he then used to sabotage Baba’s candidature.”
Then it was the Chinese. Or the Arabs. Or the Muslim states who have an agenda for Africa.
In all these, I’ve not had anyone own up to the failure of the team who managed Baba’s campaign. That makes me ask, at what point do you ever sit down for a proper, honest, inward reflection—one that every winner or loser must undertake to harvest lessons for the next battle?
When will you take responsibility for what was done or not done that affected the outcome of the AUC elections? Because you can’t tell me that the Djibouti candidate could have defeated Baba, whose Pan-African credentials date back to when he was 17 years old – now he’s 80. In an organized campaign, there was no way Raila could have lost to him.
For example, have you taken time to assess whether Raila’s AUC campaign team was competent? Were those in charge of the campaign the most professional sons and daughters for the task? Have you considered that a quiet, behind-the-scenes campaign might have yielded different results?
Instead, Baba’s campaign team went all out, turning it into a public spectacle. Who approved those designs portraying him as the “Lion of Africa”? who approved the communication strategy? Who did they consider as the primary audience? Citizens of Kenya & by extension Africa, or the heads of states? Because hiring Kenyan infleuncers, which certainly cost bucket loads of money, to share posters to win over citizens who werent going to vote is akin to washing a pig & dressing it up in a tuxedo.
Did you even consider that Baba’s campaign was packaged as a political one rather than a diplomatic one? While I acknowledge that some aspects of the election outcome were beyond the team’s control, you must take ownership of running a campaign that looked more like a continental presidential race—yet the decision lay in the hands of heads of state.
You can’t blame President Ruto. Despite his many diplomatic blunders, there comes a time when the campaign team must take responsibility—even for matters beyond their control and design appropriate straegies to circumvent the threats beyond the team’s control including the erratic Kenya’s foreign policy. Yes, President Ruto made massive diplomatic gaffes—Haiti, DRC, Sudan—but the candidate was still his own man, even though he was nominated by the Kenyan government.
What about the overconfidence and hubris? The premature celebrations? That’s not how you run a continental campaign where you need to persuade heads of state—many of whom are also political animals. These leaders wanted a chairperson who wouldn’t intimidate them, someone perceived as more diplomatic and amiable. Yet, you ran Baba’s campaign as if he were vying to be the President of Africa.
Unless, of course, this outcome was what you were working toward. Because how else do you explain the fact that Raila Amolo Odinga—Africa’s most qualified and passionate son, with a stellar track record—lost to a foreign affairs minister from a country the size of Kiambu County? Please, tell us: Was Raila’s failure to clinch the AUC seat part of a strategy to ramp up his influence locally ahead of the 2027 elections?
Drop the blame game and take responsibility. In fact, heads need to roll. We need to see resignations. Public apologies must be issued, especially to the many passionate Raila supporters across Africa who were denied his incredible leadership capabilites due to a botched, juvenile, and ineffective campaign. Africa’s progress—which could have been accelerated with Raila at the helm of AU—is now compromised. I don’t mean to suggest that the Djibouti candidate won’t do well, but I am convinced Raila was the best candidate for the seat.
The campaign team owes an apology to Africa’s young generation, who are yearning for a continent that nurtures their ambitions—free movement, a Pan-African identity, jobs, and the rule of law. But the casual nature of Raila’s campaign manager, has derailed the forward leap the continent so desperately needs. But if you don’t sit down and reflect on the election outcome and ask the right questions, the next battle will find you woefully unprepared, and you’ll still resort to blame games.
Lastly, it’s time to fumigate Baba’s inner circle. We cannot sit back and watch as the same people deliver the same results while blaming external forces. It’s time for fresh blood around Baba because, as the white people say, relying on the same tactics while expecting different results is insanity.
En neko.
Dannish Odongo is a journalist and comments on topical issues in Africa. @dannishodongo
