With political drum bells for 2022 coming out loud and furious from all corners of the country, the ODM leader seems to have changed tune and shifted his focus to the 2022 presidential election. Since the 9th of March 2018, the ODM leader has pushed for BBI a stillbirth which was meant to create changes in the 2010 constitution. He has traversed the country urging Kenyans to join him on the BBI bandwagon but going by the latest news from the orange house, it appears that ODM has decided to go for the bull than waste time skirting around the calf.
BBI was premised to be the mother of all political Tsunami or tornadoes in the country and was to sweep all who opposed it into the deep bowels of the political ocean. BBI came, scripts were drawn, enemy lines were drawn, but what has remained clear is that BBI has refused to sweep its opponents to the ocean. With time, BBI has received its share of rejection and opposition from many quarters in the country, leaving the leader of ODM to change tact and strategy.
The ODM leader expected BBI to sail through Kenya, balkanizing citizens, partitioning the country into proponents vs opponents but that did not happen. Delays and shifting goal posts have played a major setback and as it stands now, it appears that it will be impossible to sell BBI to Kenyans as many people have expressed dissatisfaction with it. The other day, it was rumored that the Siaya Senator James Orengo had advised the ODM leadership to drop the BBI campaigns and focus their energy to 2022.
It is believed that ODM has taken a cue from Orengo’s advice and has finally come to the conclusion that, instead of wasting time on BBI, they rather hit the road and prepare the ground for 2022. In the last few days, the ODM leader has been seen on the campaign trail in the city, acting like he is popularizing BBI but in a real sense, he has hit the road to campaign for himself for 2022. In the wake of the about-turn, the ODM party has invited applicants who would be interested in running for presidency to submit their applications to the party as soon as possible.
Questions many political pundits are asking, is ODM rearing for the 2022 election and leaving behind stillbirth BBI? If BBI will fail, this will be a serious test to the influence of the ODM party in the country or the grip of the ODM party leader on the political scene as currently established. Many ODM followers will feel like the party has wasted a lot of precious time chasing wild goose for the last 2 years while the chances of ODM leader becoming president in 2022 is neither here nor there.
If ODM had remained in the opposition and putting the government of Kenya on the spot, maybe the political clout it enjoyed previously wouldn’t have waned. As Kenyans grappled with difficult times in the midst of the ravaging pandemic, ODM lost its power and influence across the country. It is going to be a tall order for the leadership of the party to convince Kenyans that it still carries their collective interests at heart. Kenyans were hurt in many ways when ODM was busy supporting the government. How will ODM justify their absence from the opposition? How will ODM not share the blame
