WEEKEND OPINION: WHAT DID RAILA DO TO BALALA

Tourism minister Najib Balala was one of the key pillars of the orange party in 2007, better known as pentagon. He is credited with delivering a significant number of the coastal vote Ralia's way. He is undoubtedly a man with lots of charisma. He is also said to be a man who knows when to play politics and when to work, unlike most of the politicians. For this he is credited with bringing back the tourism industry to its feet after a near collapse in 2008. It would be anyone's dream to be interviewed on CNN, his is no longer a dream as it came to pass thanks to Richard Quest. Kenyan's are however curious of the fact that of late, Balala has been pulling away from Raila's flock. The past week saw two major events in politics. Starting with Raila's rally at Tononoka and Kibaki's 'handing over victory to Raila' ceremony.
  At Tononoka, Balala was conspicuously absent. You have to note that Tononoka is in Balala's constituency. Apart from that, he is supposed to be a senior member of the orange party and since he has not openly criticised the prime minister, it was expected he would be there. Another significant event at Tononoka was Hassan  Joho being the MC. He is the De facto arch rival to Balala's reign at the coast and I'm made to believe that it was no coincidence. Later in the week, during Kibaki's press conference, Balala was present. At the end of the president's statement, he rushed to shake the president's hand. Definitely this was his way of telling the country where his loyalty belongs.
   With all those figurative actions, plus many others, Kenyan's will ask, what did Raila do to Balala. Many will speculate but it will all lead to one reason, Raila might have broken a promise he made to the pentagon. So far the pentagon has lost the services of Ruto, Balala and it is speculated Ngilu is heading for that route.Another credible reason would be that Balala is out to punish Raila due to the latter's close association with his arch rival Hassan Joho.Whatever the reason, the prime minister should not let Balala go that easily. Though Joho might deliver some votes for the prime minister, Balala might spoil the party, assuming Mwakwere does not pass between them.