Carnival mood as Azimio's Raila Odinga makes his last pitch

It was more of a celebration, of what I have no clue than a campaign rally at the final public event of the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, yesterday.

In his speech, presidential race frontrunner Raila Odinga used the moment to rally the country by painting a conciliatory picture of a more hopeful, peaceful and prosperous future for all; though he could not resist a few jabs at his main opponent, Deputy President William Ruto.

It is true: The Kalenjin vote with their interests, the Kikuyu with their fears and the Luo with their passion. It is an ugly and irregular tribalisation of politics, but if you were in Kasarani yesterday, you would know it is true. 

In the Rift Valley, the over-riding political consideration is the protection of land and ring-fencing elected posts to avoid being dominated by immigrant communities, in Central the protection of privileged access to the means of wealth and public service jobs.

Read: Azimio la Umoja One Kenya final rally at Kasarani Stadium
 

But among the lakeside communities which form the support nucleus of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s coalition, it is about an all-consuming love for the leader.

And they were out in strength yesterday: Shoulders pumped and rotund glutei rhythmically rolled to the eternal beat of benga.

As political rallies go, the Azimio la Umoja final rally at the Kasarani stadium yesterday had the shortest applause line of any rally in Kenya. 

If you just said “Baba” the crowd went wild, if you managed to screech out “ushindi kwa Baba”, you got wild cheers, whistles and a thousand vuvuzelas. 

We had mobilised our newsroom with a mix of young and veteran reporters to add a little bit of soup to our coverage of two historic final rallies of the 2022 election campaigns. 

I sat on the floor of this same complex 20 years ago during the merger of Kanu and the National Democratic Party on March 20, 2002. But these are two different affairs. 

In 2002, it was raw power-play, a dictator striking down rivals and directing his own succession.

Irrepressible energy

Yesterday was part political rally, part street carnival and part Signature Club in Kisumu in the middle of the night. The energy was irrepressible, the joy contagious.

Mr Odinga’s speech wasn’t a sales pitch as such, it wasn’t a restatement of the promises he has made a thousand times on the stump, it was an ingathering. 

A reassurance that he was serious about fixing the economy, that he had the will to fight corruption, that creating a safety net for the poorest is the right thing to do and we can afford it, that he loves the country more than he loves himself and will therefore do whatever it takes to ensure peace and stability; he will accept the results of the election and shake hands with his opponent, just like he did with Daniel arap Moi, Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta, that his government if he wins, will not take revenge on anyone. It was an appropriate speech.

The track events pitch at the stadium was a riot of colour and an ocean of miniskirts.

Long gone are the days when politics was a game of men, women now outnumber them, and they have more power in their lungs for the vuvuzela. 

Many slept on the damp grass, perhaps because they set out early to get a good spot near their podium, or maybe overcome by the effects of various beverages and other potent substances. 

The psychedelic vapours of a certain herb main-streamed by the Roots Party candidate George Wajackoyah’s platform was on some occasions consumed quite openly, without fear.

If the candidate’s speech was the highlight of the day, the most electric moment was his arrival.

As soon as it was announced that he had entered the stadium, there was a scramble towards the entry. 

Hundreds of youths rushed to run alongside his motorcade on a lap around the track.

Hundreds more waited patiently outside to run alongside the motorcade, sort of like a running of the bulls in Pamplona, in Spain, but in this case, it is the Land Cruisers that the nimble runners surrounded not angry bulls.

A jig is obligatory in the campaigns; Mr Odinga has done more jigs in the last two months than perhaps Bob Marley, whose music was an important prop for part of his speech.

The construction of the podium also includes a curious catwalk and most speakers jog down it to get to Suna East MP Junet Mohamed, the perennial master of ceremonies, for the microphone. 

Well-organised rally

The political rally is also a fashion moment. Esther Passaris, the Woman representative for Nairobi, wore an arresting beret with the stylised “R” of the Raila presidential campaign as the insignia.

Mr Mohamed and Mombasa governor Ali Hassan Joho wore matching khaki faux military tactical suits.

The young duo are the “celebs” of the Raila campaign and are popular with the crowd.

A political event is also a production, like a TV show, with music, screens, the choreography of events and so on.

Yesterday’s production was quite smooth, the screens were big and the sound in the stadium was great. 

Read: Bongo artiste Diamond Platnumz electrifies Azimio crowd at Kasarani

Mr Mohamed did a good job of controlling the speeches, keeping them brief – which is an almost impossible task with politicians – and balancing the various interests in the choice of speakers.

Other than the littering of the stadium, this was a well-organised rally.

But mixing with the miniskirts on the track and sitting with my countrymen in the stands, I couldn’t help noticing two things.

First, Nairobi has so many people. I spent the whole day looking into the faces of people I had never seen before and will never see again. 

This is a young city in a young country with a growing population, requiring a vibrant economy to provide jobs and services.

Good economic ideas, effective government and discipline will be the cornerstones of a good government.

Secondly, political rallies are attended by poorer segments of the population whose needs are material and immediate and whose interrogation of policy proposals is probably not extensive. 

The lower middle classes, the middle classes and oligarchs rarely attend. Campaign rallies are in danger of becoming disco matangas without the body. 

If there is no structured interaction between political campaigns and a broader cross-section of the public – at press conferences, public debates and townhalls – the government might implement policies that are not thoroughly debated and challenged.

Celebrate, yes, but there is a lot of work to be done.