Of inner demons and better angels.

Never make a politician grant you a favour. He will always want to control you forever. ~ Bob Marley, Revolution.

The return of the leader of the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy was billed as the day that Uhuru Kenyatta and his TNA/URP cohort would start packing their bags for their trip back to the backbenches. Then CORD decided to hold a rally at Uhuru Park. It is enough to conclude that President Kenyatta and Deputy President Ruto should actually adjust their hind parts on their seats; it's going to be quite a while before the Minority Party musters the skill, the people or the momentum to end the Jubilee party.

There is no doubt that Kenyans are hungry for a leader; the President and Deputy President may be sitting pretty today, but even among their die-hard constituents, there are doubts being raised about their leadership qualities. Deputy President William Ruto is facing a sub rosa rebellion among the parliamentarians from the Rift Valley, especially those from the North Rift. They are becoming increasingly discomfited by the image of the Deputy President as very much the interloper in the TNA, not Jubilee, party. Vicious rumours are peddled about his failure to get his people jobs or even to protect those ones his people already hold. And that still pales in comparison to the opportunities that his people have been denied to the implement big ticket public projects such as the construction of the Standard Gauge Railway from Mombasa to Nairobi.

President Kenyatta's accusers are harsher in their judgment; he has failed to create jobs for the youth of Kenya, though he seems to have gotten all his boys and girls jobs. Every single promise - from laptops-for-tots to Lamu ports to LAPSSET corridors to SGR - seems to have foundered on an unassailable wall of graft. (It doesn't help that what he caviled against as the chairman of the Parliamentary Accounts Committee he is being forced to swallow as Commander-in-Chief.) But his reputation has taken a severe beating on the security front.

Kenyans were willing to cut him some slack; he needed time to oversee the implementation of a new system of government that had come with unexpected challenges and complications, the least not being the selfish and incompetent desires of the first generation of governors. All that changed with the Westgate siege. Uhuru Kenyatta's government has been judged and judged harshly because it's reaction to the deterioration in national security and public safety has been a colossal failure. Not a month has gone by without Kenyans being bombed, shot at or had grenades thrown at them. For the moment, morbid jokes are made about the incompetence of the Cabinet Secretary and the Inspector-General; with the CORD pushing the envelope, blame might finally be laid at the feet of the Commander-in-Chief. If the accusation sticks, Uhuru Kenyatta's government will lose all credibility and, perhaps, power.

Raila Odinga, perhaps, realizes that even with his incomparable skills, he really doesn't want to be President. It is a poisoned chalice, a position that causes so much agony it is a wonder anyone wants it. But he also knows that he cannot sit idly by while the TNA/URP juggernaut rolls back gains that were advanced through blood and broken bones, Raila Odinga's included. Unless Raila Odinga holds onto this realization in the face of the great temptation to push Uhuru Kenyatta off the seat of power, the President can breath a little easier. If Raila Odinga gives in to his inner demons or better angels, depending on your loyalties, Uhuru Kenyatta's goose will be well and truly cooked.