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Five jibes Raphael Tuju threw at Raila Odinga on ballot paper crisis


Before the Wednesday press briefing, Jubilee secretary-general Raphael Tuju promised journalists that it was going to be an interesting session.

And if throwing barbs at Nasa presidential candidate Raila Odinga was his idea of an juicy forum, then well it was.

Mr Tuju was addressing claims Mr Odinga made on Tuesday that President Uhuru Kenyatta influenced the award of a tender by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to Dubai-based Al Ghurair for printing ballot papers to be used in the August 8 General Election.

In Mr Tuju’s view, this was yet another attempt by Mr Odinga to derail the August 8 General Election.

SCUTTLE ELECTION

He listed 10 other actions by Mr Odinga between November 2016 and June 2017 which he said were the ODM leader’s attempts to scuttle the election process.

The Jubilee secretary-general’s comments, which he made at the Jubilee Party headquarters, are already drawing the ire of Mr Odinga’s supporters on social media, some who have thrown worse invectives at the former Information and Communications minister.

Some have also revived old stories around Mr Tuju’s life.

These are five of the hottest barbs Mr Tuju threw at Mr Odinga.

1. Mr Odinga ‘should grow up’
“We are really tired of tantrums from Raila. He should grow up. Because those tantrums were there in 2007. I was in government then. There was an attempt to even change the ECK that time of the late [Samuel] Kivuitu. They refused. They said they wanted Kivuitu because they had won the referendum in 2005. So, that is the one they wanted. When they lost in 2007, then Kivuitu was bad,” said Mr Tuju.

2. Mr Odinga is the master of crying wolf together with his coalition
“If they lose, for the first time, they should do what President Uhuru did in 2002 — gracefully concede defeat. But don’t take us through this roller coaster of one claim after another. In fact, right now we’re immune to claims by Nasa. They’ve been crying wolf so often that even if there is a real wolf, you will not take them seriously,” Mr Tuju said.

3. What Mr Odinga said on Tuesday is ‘hogwash’
“All this hogwash that was spoken by the [former] Prime Minister yesterday is something that we can summarise with one word: diversionary,” said Mr Tuju.

4. Mr Odinga is scared of the August 8 polls
Mr Tuju said: “What we ask and what Kenyans should ask is why R.H Raila Odinga and his brigade is running scared?. And as they run scared, they can cause any damage to the country.”

He added: “We expect mass action in the streets to target IEBC. And this outrageous statement [by Mr Odinga] is designed to appeal to a gullible political base.”

5. Only when Mr Odinga’s brother is IEBC chair that he will stop complaining
“[Former IEBC chairman] Issack Hassan was his nominee. The deputy of Isaac Hassan was also his nominee. Out of the nine or whatever number they were, five were his own nominees and he accepted it. I’m not saying something which is not true. Those were his nominees. The moment he lost, then again, they were bad.

“Now we have the third institution. This institution has not even had a chance to do any election. But already, they’re making statements about them. The only time, probably, when he will be satisfied that maybe this is the right chair of the IEBC is maybe if Oburu Odinga becomes one. Then it will be okay. Come on, give us a break,” retorted Mr Tuju.