Amani National Congress (ANC) leader, in his recently published autobiography Musalia Mudavadi: Soaring Above The storms of Passion, lifted the lid on the goings-on within former Prime Minister Raila Odinga's camp in the run-up to the 2007 General Election.
In the book, the former vice president highlighted an instance in which the current tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala shed tears before the former prime minister.
It was during the party primaries that a quick succession of events revealed the game plan for the presidential race that he claimed had key people in charge of the ODM secretariat who were guiding the outcome in a very specific and predictable way.
After the 2005 referendum, the party pulled a surprise move in which the presidential contenders, which included DP William Ruto and Mudavadi, were to address the party delegates at Kasarani.
The first candidate to address the delegation was Balala who announced that he was pulling out of the race in favour of Raila.
“But Balala did more than this. He engaged in a lap of honour around the auditorium. He seemed to be in high spirits. It was clear that he had made a deal with Raila, I do not know to what good, however,” writes Mudavadi.
He further revealed that he was perturbed by Balala's behaviour on stage that included him shedding tears.
“I have never known why he was crying. Was he happy that he had a load off his back, or was there some other reason? Maybe we will get to know someday. I was not amused by this game plan, however."
The ANC leader observes that the move was aimed at coercing him and Ruto to quit the race so that Raila was left as the sole flag bearer.
Later on during the campaigns, Raila reportedly pulled another card out of his sleeve when he introduced the current Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu despite dispute from within the party.
“All these pronouncements had probably been discussed silently behind the scenes. Some of us did not know anything about this until late. We heard of this virtually at the eleventh hour,” he continued.
At the end of the primaries, Raila emerged as the winner and introduced the pentagon naming Mudavadi as his running mate.
