Exiled lawyer Miguna Miguna has warned ODM leader Raila Odinga’s team against premature celebrations ahead of the 2022 elections.
It is now clear that Raila’s team has the support of more Members of Parliament than 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 and Raila Odinga easily outnumbered a move that has seen the Handshake team start early celebrations.
A few weeks ago, Embakasi East MP Babu Owino said that Raila who recently announced his 2022 bid should take an oath of office ahead of the much-awaited 2022 General Election because he has got the numbers to make him the next Head of State.
But on Thursday, December 23, Miguna Miguna urged the handshake 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 the ODM leader Raila Odinga had more legislators supporting his second stab at the presidency than those who were supporting incumbent Mwai Kibaki but he still lost.
It is due to this that lawyer Miguna Miguna has asked the handshake team 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.
