Raila Odinga reveals new strategies ahead of 2022 polls
ODM leader Raila Odinga addresses his supporters at the burial of James Okello at Nyakongo Village in Rarieda, Siaya County, on September 11, 2021.
Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga has devised new strategies ahead of next year’s election that he is expected to employ in his fifth stab at the presidency.
The ODM leader is today expected to take his Azimio la Umoja campaigns to the Maa community. He will camp in Kajiado County in his quest for the country’s peace and unity ahead of his declaration to gun for the country’s top seat.
ODM Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna On Sunday told Nation.Africa that Mr Odinga will today take the campaigns launched in Nakuru on August 17 to Kajiado. The ODM leaders will be hosted by Governor Joseph Ole Lenku among other leaders from the community.
“We are doing Maa nation on Monday in Kajiado before we head to the Coast region and Garissa in Northern Kenya,” Mr Sifuna said.
Major convention
Mr Odinga has received endorsement from his Nyanza backyard following the region’s edition held at Sikri in Homa Bay County on August 19.
The meeting brought together delegates from the six counties of the region including; Homa Bay, Kisumu, Siaya, Migori, Kisii and Nyamira.
On Friday September 10, the ODM leader attended the second meeting of his planned countrywide editions in Kakamega where he met delegates from Trans- Nzoia, Kakamega, Vihiga, Bungoma and Busia counties, receiving their endorsement.
The campaigns will culminate into a major convention in Nairobi next month where Mr Odinga is expected to officially declare his fifth stab at the presidency.
“I will soon announce my bid if you all agree with this quest. Do you want me to soldier on?” Mr Odinga asked an enthusiastic crowd in Kakamega town on Friday which appeared to endorse his bid.
ODM Deputy Party Leader Wycliffe Oparanya said Mr Odinga has since launched his State House journey with the quest for unity of all Kenyans.
“We have started our journey to State House and what we are calling for is peace and unity of the Country. No meaningful economic development can be realised without coming together as a nation,” Mr Oparanya said.
Buoyed by his camaraderie with President Uhuru Kenyatta courtesy of their March 9, 2018 truce, Mr Odinga is seeking to make inroads in regions that have in the past been hostile to his presidential bid.
Coalition
Already the ODM leader’s party is working on a coalition agreement with President Kenyatta’s Jubilee party as well as Agriculture Cabinet Secretary-linked Party of National Unity (PNU) in a bid to make inroads in Mt Kenya region.
Mr Sifuna said they were keen on entering into a coalition with like-minded parties for the sake of the 2022 polls.
On Sunday, he told Nation.Africa that the end of National Super Alliance (Nasa) on whose ticket Mr Odinga contested the presidency in 2017 had given the party opportunity to seek new partners ahead of the 2022 elections.
Nasa brought together ODM, Kalonzo Musyoka-led Wiper, Amani National Congress (ANC) led by Musalia Mudavadi, Ford Kenya of Moses Wetang’ula as well as sack Ruto’s Chama Cha Mashinani.
Mr Musyoka, Mr Mudavadi and Mr Wetang’ula have since teamed up with Kanu Chairman Gideon Moi to join the One Kenya Alliance (OKA) while Mr Ruto is allied to Deputy President William Ruto-linked United Democratic Alliance (UDA).
“ODM is now more agile having been freed from the chains of its former partners. Decisions are easier and quicker to make given that we need only consult ourselves now,” Mr Sifuna told Nation on the latest developments.
The ODM’s quest for new partners, he argues, gives the party impetus to craft fresh line up for the sake of 2022 elections and craft new strategies of making inroads into hostile regions.
Nation has also established that ODM, in its new plan to consolidate its support across the Country will have regional campaign nerve centres to boost its grassroots mobilisation programmes.
