“How I smuggled RAILA into the Africa Climate Summit at KICC” - DAVID OSIANY narrates and reveals how top Government officials led by GACHAGUA were caught flat-footed

Friday, October 17, 2025 - Former Industrialization Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS), David Osiany, has lifted the lid on a daring and emotional act he undertook to ensure ODM leader, Raila Odinga, was not humiliated during the Africa Climate Summit (ACS) held in Nairobi.

In a heartfelt tribute shared on Friday, Osiany revealed that during the inaugural Africa Climate Summit - which brought together over 13 African Heads of State at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) - Raila had not been officially invited, despite having already declared interest in the African Union Commission (AUC) Chairmanship.

At the time, the Government had not yet begun supporting Raila’s bid, and Osiany, whose company Crestwood Marketing & Communications Ltd had been contracted to handle all communications, advertising and PR for the high-profile event, decided to intervene.

“Seeing that my hero was sidelined, I walked straight to the coordinating team and informed them that Prime Minister Raila Odinga had been in talks with the President and they had agreed that he attends the event,” Osiany confessed.

“Of course, it wasn’t true, but I knew none of them was going to verify this information.”

He then managed to secure a VVVIP car pass, venue access, and security clearance for Raila’s bodyguard - though he could not obtain a pass for an extra assistant.

To solve that, he assigned Anne Mabwai, Crestwood’s Head of Shared Services and a member of the vetted VVVIP protocol team, to act as Raila’s personal aide for the day.

Osiany personally called Raila to deliver the news.

“Wuora, I have played monkey. I have your cards and you will sit with the Presidents,” he told him.

Raila reportedly laughed and responded in Dholuo: Inyalogi? Kare in be in mjanja!” - loosely translated to “You outsmarted them? So you’re clever too?”

“We moved former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s seat to the back and placed Baba’s seat in front alongside that of former Ethiopian PM, Hailemariam Desalegn, and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi,” Osiany narrated.

Read the full post to know how Raila managed to get a front-row seat.