Ruto men push for Raila to get position of PM

The clamour for Raila Odinga to walk into the centre of President William Ruto administration as prime minister is gaining traction following his Saturday Africa Union Commission (AUC) chair position loss to Djiboutian Mahmoud Ali Youssouf.

The latest move, pushed by some Kenya Kwanza diehards, is aimed at accommodating Raila after the AUC disappointment, which President Ruto described as “Africa missing a lot by failing to elect the former premier who was the best candidate for the position.”

If the calls are actualized, Raila, who served as prime minister in the 2008- 2013 coalition government with former President Mwai Kibaki - will go down in history as the country’s politician to hold that position twice under two different administrations.

Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei and Belgut MP Nelson Koech could have been a mere X post, but based on the positions they hold, and a look into recent history, their calling for the implementation of the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO) report to have the Office of the Prime Minister entrenched in the constitution is not a matter of conjecture.

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Cherargei called for the full implementation of the NADCO report by amending the Constitution and creating the office and having Raila serve in that capacity since he is the most qualified individual.'

The Nandi senator on his official X account said it was important to implement the NADCO report fully, "since we cannot allow such brilliant leadership and experience to go to waste after the Africa Union missed it."

“This is the only way we can appreciate and reward Raila for his fight for rule of law and democracy in Kenya, that is by having him as our prime minister,” said Cherargei.

Koech while speaking during a morning show on Citizen TV said Raila should be accommodated in government to offer leadership and advise that is needed to support the Ruto administration.

The Belgut MP stated that deliberations made in the NADCO report, which recognised the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, should also be invoked to deliberate on Raila’s reward.

“The Kenya Kwanza administration should look for ways of accommodating Raila since he has got vast experience which if well utilised can turn around the country for the better, that is why I am recommending we implement the NADCO report to have him as Prime Minister,” said Koech.

Raila allies have pledged to continue working with Ruto despite the AU loss. They say that will ensure that the country is united while lauding the President for all the efforts that he made to have the Kenyan candidate clinch the position which he lost narrowly.

“Raila has always shown great leadership that is why he accepted to drop out of the race for AUC Chairmanship at the sixth round to forestall a crisis that could have seen the AUC not having a leader for six months until another election is organised,” said National Assembly Minority Leader Junet Mohammed in Addis Ababa.

National Assembly Minority Whip Millie Odhiambo said that the outcome of the AUC election has shown that Raila is deeply loved across the continent and that he will continue pursuing his pan-Africanism agenda going forward as a gratitude to all Africans.

A Ruto administration insider, Arnold Maliba, who describes himself as a legislative affairs analyst told The Standard that in the days leading up to the AUC debacle Raila’s close allies came up with a ‘war council’ to plan the future depending on how the AUC bid would go.

They developed a two-pronged approach where one was to have Raila in government if he lost and get Azimio more positions in government if he won.

The two approaches aimed at cementing Azimio place in the current government.

Maliba said according to the plan Musalia Mudavadi, the current holder of the Prime Cabinet Secretary position, would give way to Raila and be deployed to the National Assembly as Speaker while Moses Wetangula would be accommodated in government as a Cabinet Secretary.

The second approach was that after a Raila win which would make him unavailable in local politics, the team sought to push through a takeover of one of President Ruto’s administration’s strongest pillars, the National Assembly and a few slots in the executive. 

 “Specifically, the team wished to have one of their own – either Rarieda MP Otiende Amolo who it is intimated, Raila did not trust for such a task, or Homabay Town MP Peter Kaluma or Ruaraka MP TJ Kajwang’ take over the position of Speaker of National Assembly and have Wetangula deployed to the Executive. Additionally, they planned to have Azimio assume the Parliamentary Majority position with Suna East MP Junet Mohammed as the Leader of Majority,” said Maliba.

Maliba said with Raila’s loss at the Africa Union, the initial plan by his close allies is likely to be pursued with various amendments, reportedly besides seizing the speakership of the National Assembly, include a takeover of the Prime Cabinet Secretary position which may be translated to Prime Minister position. 

The political operative said Raila allies will lobby for the increase in the number of ‘Azimio experts’ in the cabinet by having Public Service and the Gender Affairs dockets to ODM-aligned individuals with ODM taking on a sizeable share of principal secretaries slots.

The NADCO report recommended Constitutional amendments to establish the office of Prime Minister who shall be nominated with the approval of the National Assembly and appointed by the president to assist him in the coordination, supervision, and implementation of government policies.

“The Prime Minister shall supervise national government policies, programmes and projects across all government ministries and state departments, coordinate the national government’s legislative agenda across all ministries and state departments and perform any other function as may be directed by the President,” read the report.

 “The person designated by the party or coalition of political parties which garnered the second greatest number of votes in the immediately preceding presidential election to hold that Office in accordance with the party or coalition agreement,” says the report.