{"id":2543,"date":"2022-05-23T05:18:41","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T05:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/countysplash.co.ke\/?p=2543"},"modified":"2022-05-23T05:18:41","modified_gmt":"2022-05-23T05:18:41","slug":"kwendo-opanga-why-raila-ratings-improved-after-naming-karua-as-running-mate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/horizonnews.co.ke\/?p=2543","title":{"rendered":"KWENDO OPANGA: Why Raila ratings improved after naming Karua as running mate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nairobi<\/code><\/strong><\/p>

Campaign spin masters had to train Thatcher on how to address audiences in a manner that cast her as caring, loving and soft. Karua often comes across as hard as nails and a tad rude. She will have to improve her soft skills. <\/code><\/strong><\/p>

Mr Raila Odinga received a considerable bounce in opinion polls, thanks to his naming Ms Martha Karua as his running mate to complete the Azimio La Umoja coalition presidential ticket.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

That bounce was highly likely influenced\nby women voters and Mount Kenya enclave, the demographic and region whose large\nvote numbers are coveted by any ticket worth its salt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no mistaking the power of the\nfact that a Deputy President is next in line in succession. If the President\nwere to exit for some reason or become incapacitated by reason of health, the\nsecond in command would take over the reins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
DP William Ruto, President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga<\/code><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What’s more, the second in command has a\nheadstart in a succession election. This means Azimio’s message to Kenya’s\nwomen is that in the next dispensation a woman will be a heartbeat away from\npower. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Needless to say, Karua’s Mount Kenya\nregion would want to bag the presidency after Odinga. Azimio, however, will\nneed to do more to make or complete Karua as the coalition\u2019s USP (Unique\nSelling Proposition). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For starters, the coalition will have\ntaken note of outgoing Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua’s unexpected line of\nattack. He berated Karua, calling her an atheist. He compared her to Mr Rigathi\nGachagua, the Kenya Kwanza running mate, whom he praised as a church-going\nChristian. It is a potent attack because believers are unlikely to vote for a\nnon-believer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secondly, Karua has long been regarded by\nall and sundry as the Iron Lady of Kenya\u2019s politics, thus reminding some of\nMargaret Thatcher, the deeply divisive UK’s Conservative premier of the 80s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Campaign spin masters had to train\nThatcher on how to address audiences in a manner that cast her as caring,\nloving and soft. Karua often comes across as hard as nails and a tad rude. She\nwill have to improve her soft skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For starters, the coalition will have taken note of outgoing Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua's unexpected line of attack. He berated Karua, calling her an atheist. He compared her to Mr Rigathi Gachagua, the Kenya Kwanza running mate, whom he praised as a church-going Christian. It is a potent attack because believers are unlikely to vote for a non-believer. <\/code><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

And just days after Odinga brought Karua\nonto the Azimio ticket, President Kenyatta’s sounding board, Jubilee Party\nVice-chairman David Murathe, announced that the President may not personally\ncampaign for Odinga. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an earlier piece, this writer had\nsuggested that it was unwise for the President campaign for the ticket and make\nit three on Azimio’s ticket against Kenya Kwanza two. That casts the President\nas having his thumb on the scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worse, the opposition has seized on the President\u2019s open deference to Odinga and his angry and unsavoury attacks on his estranged deputy, as feeding the Kenya Kwanza propaganda mills. The coalition\u2019s leading lights have lit into Odinga, branding him a project and puppet of the President\u2019s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ends <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nairobi Campaign spin masters had to train Thatcher on how to address audiences in a manner that cast her as caring, loving and soft. Karua often comes across as hard as nails and a tad rude. She will have to improve her soft skills. Mr Raila Odinga received a considerable bounce in opinion polls, thanks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-kenya-news"],"yoast_head":"\nKWENDO OPANGA: Why Raila ratings improved after naming Karua as running mate - Horizon News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/horizonnews.co.ke\/?p=2543\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"KWENDO OPANGA: Why Raila ratings improved after naming Karua as running mate - Horizon News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nairobi Campaign spin masters had to train Thatcher on how to address audiences in a manner that cast her as caring, loving and soft. 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