Early this year, I criticised my colleagues at the presidential campaign Secretariat of Dr Fred Matiang’i at one of our weekly meetings.

“We are not working hard enough. If we were, one of us would have by now been killed by you-know-who.”

Needless to say, their response was speechless consternation as they looked at each other perhaps to process who that would be. This was not a brainwave from a genius. I was simply applying wisdom borrowed from late comrade Raila Odinga.

Not so long ago, Raila was visited by a team of nascent opposition leaders from Tanzanian at his Capitol Hill office before he died. .

“How many are you?” the late Prime Minister began.

“We are nine your Excellency.”

“And they allowed all of you to cross the border with passports to meet me?”

Raila queried as an answer in the affirmative was given by the team leader of the visiting Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu.

“If they let you cross the border to meet me, then you are not worthy opponents of the government. If indeed you were, the government would never have allowed you to come here. I think you should go back. The day you come back and only three people arrive out of ten, I will be satisfied that the Tanzania government recognises you as worth holding a dialogue with.”

An anxious youthful member of the team then asked.

“If only three arrive, where will the rest have gone?”

They will be in heaven, police custody or blocked at the border.” Raila responded facing them eyeball to eyeball.

Just as the Matiang’i presidential secretariat members looked at each other when I pointed at a member being killed as a measure of performance, so did the Tanzania team do. The brief meeting may have occasioned the delivery of the strategic advice and inspiration our brothers and sisters from Tanzania were looking for. Check!

Later on, opposition leader Tundu Lissu arrived in Kenya through difficulty with a bullet lodged in his body courtesy of a Tanzanian police gun. According to the Raila wisdom, the man was now on the track for power. The Uhuru Kenyatta government took him to Nairobi Hospital for treatment. On the other hand, the John Pombe Magufuli government made disparate appeals to President Uhuru Kenyatta to repatriate Tundu Lissu to face “criminal charges.”

Dr Fred Matiang’i then Minister for Internal Security had a different opinion. He appropriately advised Kenyatta who rejected the request citing international protocols on the matter.

By the way, faced with a similar situation involving Kizza Besigye of Uganda, Kipchumba Murkomen or was it Kindiki? Ruto repatriated Besigye who is now languishing in Luzira Maximum Prison in Kampala.

Interestingly, when Raila died, President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s government blocked the entry into Kenya of Tundu Lissu allied opposition leaders who had come to attend Raila’s funeral. They were not allowed in. As though to confirm Raila’s prophecy Magufuli’s daughter, Jesca Magufuli, were allowed to cross the border to “hold the meeting of three” With the dead Raila while others were missing as predicted by the enigma before he died.

Against this backdrop, we should understand why James Orengo, Edwin Sifuna and Irungu Kang’ata are under fire. Fred Matiang’i should walk through his state crafted court cases like a prince working towards a joint coronation with his embattled colleagues. Matiang’i should also treat attacks from Itumbi and their rigged opinion polls against him as compliments and recommendations for a higher office.

Even as I do this rather “heartless” appreciation of political evil by the Ruto state, all must note that the highest expression of “endorsement” is murder. Remember that Josiah Mwangi Kariuki was murdered because he was the best successor to Jomo Kenyatta. State endorsement antics should not be over romanticised. A candidate(s) may soon be assassinated.

In a situation like that progressive forces experience irreplaceable loss hence the need to address a critical question. What is to be done? What do we do now? Look at this:

The government has unlocked the armoury. It has shot at Governor Kang’ata. It has killed people in Kitengela, Kakamega, Busia and Keumbu in Kisii. Goons are now officially an armed forces of the Ruto state. It goes without saying that Ruto will harass, intimidate, injure, sabotage and kill as a build up for our electoral World Cup contest in 2027.

William Ruto, Prof Kindiki and lawyer (with a masters degree) Kipchumba Murkomen, the learned trio is inviting the Kenyan opposition to a pre-tournament contest. A war for peace, justice, fairness and an end to impunity.

Julius Malema’s cry for “a signal” doesn’t apply here. The signal is in rainbow colours.

We have the luxury to choose when and how to engage the enemy. Raila often chose to fight this war after the rigging of the presidential elections. The Raila experience instructs us to open another chapter and do things differently. Did they not say “prevention is the real cure”?

This war must be fought before 2027. Ruto needs a lesson or two before the 2027 exam. Perhaps a lesson comparable to the 2024 lesson by the Gen Zee. However, what is abundantly clear is that Ruto has chosen the coalition that will remove him from State House by his behaviour. See less.

• A Tell Media report / By Wafula Buke / The writer is a former political detainee