THE TRUTH ABOUT THE DIVISIONS THAT LED TO THE BREAK UP OF ODM, AND THE ROLE OF

BISHOP DEYA.

I have been involved with ODM since shortly before the referendum. While I am not
a politician, I actively spent many nights in the glorious ODM days when we felt
that there was no way for Kibaki to beat our united victory machine. Everywhere we
went, the people of Kenya gave us hope and while our two leading Presidential
consultants, Raila and Kalonzo, were always in noticeable competition, there was
always the understanding that the ODM dream was larger. I faithfully believed
this, along with a host of young eager professionals who gave their time and
resources selflessly to the cause. Such people as Njee Muturi, Donald Kipkorir,
Adil Khawaja, John Katiku, Tony Cege, Kathleen Kihanya, Gregory Owino, Recho
Shebesh, Tony Gachoka and others.

I do not regret the time I spent planning and strategizing.

While we had several problems all along, the truth that no one ever wanted to
disclose is what finally caused the irrevocable split. As a unit, we hid the
painful facts I will outline here to the public domain.

The pain of our separation, for us children of the movement, is as sharp as

parental divorce. After the breakup of ODM, many of our youthful group followed
their tribal masters. A few of us, perhaps more naïve, and of course more
frustrated held on and clung to the dream of latter unity. Even we have now
accepted that this will not happen, and in view of this, perhaps it is the ideal
time to set the record straight.

The split of ODM original was never really caused by a fight for the single
presidential candidate, contrary to popular belief. At least not directly.
The real problems started sometime at the beginning of March 2007. On 3rd or 4th
March, Kalonzo sought out Julia Ojiambo in connection with the impending London
trip. He had received information leaked to him by a Kenyan living in Birmingham
to the effect that Bishop Deya had boasted to some followers the previous Sunday
that he (Deya) was going to bask in very positive limelight the following week
because he was going to chaperone the entire ODM leadership on their visit to the
UK. Deya indicated that this would provide a vital springboard for his projected
return to Kenya in January of 2008 without fear of prosecution.
Kalonzo was disturbed at this news because the itinerary shown to him by Raila and
discussed between them only mentioned Deya in passing and did not in fact give him
any official role.

After Kalonzo met Ojiambo, they agreed that this was a serious matter and that
Kalonzo should find out more before deciding on the next course of action. Kalonzo
spent the next day inquiring from his sources in London, and after satisfying
himself, immediately placed a call to Raila. Raila expressed the view that there
was nothing wrong with Deya ‘helping in some areas’, arguing that Deya had done a
lot for ODM abroad (a well known fact) and spent a great deal of time and money
for the cause. This is true, and not even his detractors can deny that Deya has
sacrificed a lot for ODM, both in time and money. Raila also explained that it was
too close to the visit to kick out Deya and replace him with another organizer,
there simply was no time.

Kalonzo’s problem with Deya is that Kalonzo believed that his popularity stemmed
from his clean cut Christian image (largely true) and that association with Deya
would irrevocably damage his reputation. He consulted with his clique of religious
leaders who agreed wholeheartedly. In addition, he then held a lengthy meeting
with Ruto and Uhuru who agreed with him, but these two asked him to be patient and
give them time to speak to Raila. Uhuru even offered to help with alternate
logistical arrangements. When Ruto and Uhuru spoke with Raila on the evening of
the 6tth March, he listened carefully but stood firm on the matter of Deya. It was
dawning on the others that Raila would not budge on this one. Musalia’s opinion
was secondary since he was never on the travel schedule anyway and had only been
remotely involved.

By the morning of 7th March, the matter was at an impasse. Kalonzo was unwilling
to commit what he felt would be political suicide by being seen with Deya. In
addition, he felt that Raila would suffer much less from such exposure because
Raila has never packaged himself as a moralist. Kalonzo felt that Raila was aware
of this and did not mind the controversy that would compromise Kalonzo and reduce
his ‘clean’ image. Deya had been given a very prominent role in the visit and this
was to be flashed to all leading dailies and electronic media. By the night of the
7th, Kalonzo had made up his mind not to go. The information about Deya’s role had
been confirmed by Uhuru with his excellent and reliable contacts in London .

Ojiambo, another devout Christian and mother figure, refused to ‘touch’ Deya.
Uhuru and Ruto were the last to formally quit the trip. Raila was furious and
tried to spread a story that Kalonzo was engineering a ‘coup’ in the party.
However, the facts by now were quite well known and no-one quite bought this line.
The media adopted a wrong version of the story that Raila was to be ‘crowned’ in
London and that this was the cause of the disagreement. However, the truth is that
at no time had the ODM top brass agreed to come up with the name of the
presidential flag bearer during the London trip. Even Balala, who often sided with
Raila, did not agree with him on this one.

That is why, on the evening of 8th March, Raila caught the London plane alone, to
be received warmly by Deya. The subsequent visit was much less low key than
earlier planned, but yes, Deya played as large a role as planned and hosted Raila
prominently. Subsequently, rumors that I cannot confirm or deny emerged that he
was promised a pardon and Government position.

Kalonzo had privately complained that Raila, as a confessed atheist, had no qualms
about associating with the likes of Deya and that this was not the face of ODM he
was willing to present. It is instructive that a key ally of his, Joe Kadhi, went
on to write a stinging article later about this saga and its potential to scuttle
ODM’s ambitions. The leading dailies all refused to carry this article and Joe
Kadhi in frustration posted it on the Internet.

Later on, Julie Gichuru on Nation TV interviewed Raila about having associated
with Deya in London. He denied, despite a mountain of evidence and several
photographs in evidence. Those of us watching the interview realized that Julie
clearly was unaware of this mountain of evidence, and in a way, we were glad
because at this time, we still dreamt of ODM unity.

Kalonzo himself, even in his most bitter attacks on Raila, has chosen to avoid
this matter. This is understandable, because a few days after Raila came back, the
entire ODM went to joint rallies where they espoused unity and downplayed
differences over the London trip. Kalonzo cannot now re-open old wounds and he
feels it would cast him in a negative light to do so.

I wrote this article because I share a completely different view. Now that ODM
unity is irrevocably gone, I think it is important to set the record straight.
Many people are unaware of what went wrong. Bishop Deya is a major blot to the
opposition. While I agree that, as Raila says, Deya is innocent until proven
guilty, the mountain of evidence against him is huge and alarming. He has never
given up his ‘miracle baby’ ideas, and as a mother of two young children, God
forbid that such a man should have state protection! For me, this is much more
dreadful than any corruption scandal. We can replace money, but the images of
women whose kids were stolen haunts me to date. I will be called names and
vilified by many political activists, including those who shared meals and drinks
with me a few months ago. But these are the facts and those with a conscience will
go to bed easier knowing that finally, the most disturbing saga of our recent
opposition politics has come to light.