Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli strongly refused a request that ODM Leader Raila Odinga be sworn in his country.

This is according to the soon to be published memoir by activist Miguna Miguna who was part of the planning committee for the parallel swearing in ceremony.

In Treason: The Case Against Tyrants & Renegades, Miguna writes that the team was concerned that the security situation was likely to hamper their plans to swear in Odinga in Kenya.

James Orengo

The former Prime Minister then directed his lawyer and confidant Siaya Senator James Orengo to reach out to his ally – President Magufuli to facilitate a parallel swearing in ceremony in Tanzania.

“According to Orengo, Magufuli believed that leadership was ‘a gift from God’ and that if God had not given Raila that gift,there was no reason to pursue our plans and that Raila should forget about being sworn in as The People’s President,” Miguna recalls, noting that the team was not pleased with the response.

“In other words, Magufuli was of the view that God did not want Raila to be the president of Kenya. I found such statements to be outrageous. God had not manipulated the August 8, 2017 General Election,” the Canada-based Kenyan lawyer adds.

Inauguration Speech

The self-declared NRM General further records that the initial swearing in ceremony had been scheduled to take place on December 12 – only to be cancelled three days to d-day.

On December 9, Miguna writes that he spent five hours preparing Odinga’s inauguration speech, which was agreed on by Orengo and ex-Machakos Senator Johnson Muthama.

Odinga, however, postponed the ceremony after consultations with NASA co-principals Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetangula. Kalonzo Musyoka was out of the country at the time.