Raila Odinga And Kenyan Electoral Violence

Suffice it to say that election in Africa is nothing but a kind of an advance auction sale of citizens’ economic and political freedom. This partly explains why I struggle to catch the drift of electoral violence in Africa perpetrated by some unthinkable oafs. Why must people end the precious lives of their fellow compatriots for the sake of politics? Needless to say, the 2017 presidential polls in Kenya appeared to be turning baleful, by the callous courtesy of Raila Odinga’s inordinate and unbridled narcissism. There are reported incidents of violent protest in Nairobi, Kenya’s administrative capital. Mr. Odinga’s support base of Kisumu and the Kibera Slums of Nairobi are reportedly interlocking horns with the Kenyan police. This writer aims at understanding the extent of relationship between Odinga’s temperament and narcissistic personality traits.

Once again, let me remind my discerning readers that I am somewhat without the needed expertise and strength to reconstruct the niches of Kenyan or African politics, even so this subject is necessitated by reported cases of Odinga’s mulish stance relative to electoral defeat. The narcissistic grandiosity of Odinga is claiming innocent lives and it must be berated by all pan Africanists and other stakeholders of global politics. The term narcissism had its origin from a classical Greek mythology. Narcissus happened to be a guy who was convinced he was better than anyone else and therefore, frowned upon love for others. He later became infatuated with his own image mirrored in a pool of water and died transfixed.

From psychological clinical science perspective, narcissism is a kind of personality disorder. Many clinicians use the criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), published by the American Psychiatric Association, to diagnose psychological disorders.

DSM-5 criteria for narcissistic personality disorder include the following characteristics:

• Having an exaggerated sense of self-importance


• Expecting to be recognized as superior even without achievements that warrant it
• Exaggerating your achievements and talents
• Being preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate
• Believing that you are superior and can only be understood by or associate with equally special people
• Requiring constant admiration


• Having a sense of entitlement


• Expecting special favors and unquestioning compliance with your expectations
• Taking advantage of others to get what you want
• Having an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others
• Being envious of others and believing others envy you
• Behaving in an arrogant or haughty manner

Although some features of narcissistic personality disorder may appeared to be having confidence, it's not the same. Narcissistic personality disorder crosses the border of healthy confidence into thinking so highly of yourself that you put yourself on a pedestal and value yourself more than you value others.

Mr. Odinga claimed the 2017 Kenyan presidential election was inundated with fraud and that hackers being aided by the identity of an assassinated electoral official compromised with the database of Kenya’s electoral commission. Mr. Christopher Chege Musando, the Kenyan manager of information technology at independent electoral commission was killed in the lead-up to just ended 2017 elections. Odinga opined his death paved ways for electoral manipulations. This assertion by the leader of the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) sparked-off violent protest. This violence presents a flashback of 2007 elections in which about 1000 or more people were murdered after Mr. Odinga was defeated by ex-president Mwai Kibaki. In 2013, Kenyan Supreme court quashed an alleged vote-manipulating case brought before it by that same Mr. Odinga. This was after Odinga lost to President Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of Kenya’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta. Is the personality type of Mr. Odinga threatening Kenya’s political stability or the Kenyan government is a mere corruption ridden agency devoid of trustworthiness to conduct credible elections?

The report released by transparency international on the corruption perception index saw Kenya performing abysmally. On the scale of zero to 100, with zero perceived to be highly corrupt and 100 very clean, Kenya scored 25 in 2014 and 2015 and improved marginally to 26 in 2016. Per this report, Kenya is perceived to be an abyss of decay when it comes to corruption. Let me just hypothesize that it is increasingly difficult for opposition party to win election in a country drenched with corruption like Kenya. Mr. Odinga and his ODM apparatchiks and aficionados must have invested huge sums of money to be rigged of electoral fortunes. Let me play devil’s advocate here, rigging Mr. Odinga is not only unfair but also a recipe for chaos.

Kenyan authorities must be reminded of the assertion of classical Greek tragedian, Sophocles that we must prefer even to fail with honor than to win by cheating. I am not unaware of Napoleon Bonaparte’s assertion that in politics stupidity is never a handicap. Nevertheless, if all Kenyans die which people are these agitated politicians going to govern? Kenyan youth must eschew violence and comply with rule of law. Mr Odinga must compromise with his obstinate and narcissist posture if applicable to maintain political stability in Kenya. Stakeholders of African politics such as African Union must intervene swiftly to avert replication of 2007, electoral unrest. God bless Africa!

By Nana Yaw Osei, Minnesota, USA
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