ODM leader Raila Odinga yesterday began his official hunt for votes in the Mt Kenya region in Thika with a promise to safeguard the legacy of President Uhuru Kenyatta by completing projects initiated by the Jubilee administration.
Mr Odinga made a passionate call to Mt Kenya voters to endorse his bid for the presidency, saying he is the best candidate to succeed Mr Kenyatta.
Speaking in Thika Green Stadium in the company of leaders and politicians affiliated to Azimio la Umoja, the ODM party leader said he was in the region with the blessings of President Kenyatta, highlighting what he said would be the blueprint to guide his plan and priorities for the region and the country.
Mr Odinga said his administration would prioritise education, healthcare, revival of industries and agriculture—the backbone of the region’s economic success and progress. He also used the event to launch Azimio Mashinani, an initiative to help him mobilise support at the grassroots. The event was marked with pomp and colour as Mr Odinga’s supporters turned out in their numbers to welcome him.
“They had said Raila could not scale the mountain, but now I can see the peak of the mountain. I have brought the Azimio message whose beginning was the handshake. I had predicted that there would be a tsunami coming, but now what I can see is more than a tsunami,” Mr Odinga said.
He said he had received the blessing of Mr Kenyatta to campaign in the region, describing the Head of State as a brother and friend with whom he had done a lot to transform the country since the March 2018 handshake.
Recollecting his relationship with the President, Mr Odinga said he chose to have a handshake with Mr Kenyatta to unite the country after the divisive 2017 election, a unity call he said he will continue to champion using the Azimio La Umoja platform.
“I am here as a friend. A few days ago I was in Nyeri and I was well received. And before I left Nairobi today, I talked to President Uhuru Kenyatta and he sent his greetings,” he told residents.
He said he is the only presidential hopeful with the right agenda for the country, accusing Deputy President William Ruto of making new empty promises after failing to deliver on the ones he made in previous elections.
“I was the one who drew the plans for the Thika Superhighway, and even the one who drew the plans for the Kenol-Marua road, which President Kenyatta is now building. I even led in the demolition of houses to construct Thika Road and some people were really annoyed and angry with me,” he said.
“All projects started by the President will be completed. All Kenyans must be able to get meaningful jobs, not push wheelbarrows around.”
Hitting out at Deputy President William Ruto for his criticism of some of his proposals, including plans to allocate Sh6,000 to poor and vulnerable families, the ODM chief said the the DP lacked an agenda. “I have proposed the introduction of a social protection fund to help households that are poor and some people have called it handouts. This is not a handout. It is a necessity to sustain lives, not handouts.”
“He (Ruto) had promised stadiums in every county, where are the stadiums? He had even promised a million jobs every year, where are the jobs? He says the handshake disrupted their agenda as Jubilee, which handshake? Let him get out of government and leave Raila Odinga to show him how things are done,” he said.
Mr Odinga also critised Dr Ruto’s promise to allocate billions of shillings to businesses and youths should he be elected president, saying a lot of public money had been stolen and the deputy president was to blame for the problems that has bedevilled the country. “He (Ruto) says Kenya has no money, but we know the loopholes he had used to steal public funds,” he said.
Leaders present at the rally included governors, MPs, senators, aspirants and some of Mr Odinga’s influential and powerful backers from central Kenya.
Host Governor James Nyoro said the presence of Mr Odinga at the rally had signified a new era for the Mt Kenya region, which he said had resolved to back the ODM leader’s bid. “We should leave this place knowing that we are now the disciples of Azimio Mashinani. When the history of this country is written, it will be known that it is in Kiambu where major and historic events happened. You (Raila) are not in Kiambu by accident, but because you will enter into history when you become president. Kiambu is the true reflection of the face of Kenya,” he said.
Songs, pomp and colour characterised the event, with heavy police presence drawn from Thika police station and its environs. Women donned red T-shirts and red and blue caps with the words ‘Azimio La Umoja’.
Earlier, Mr Odinga had met with youth and opinion leaders from Kiambu at Mount Kenya University graduation pavilion. The Thika event was, however, boycotted by a section of ward representatives from the county, with some citing ongoing turf wars.
Mr Odinga also condemned the recent utterances by politicians allied to Dr Ruto that appeared to use language linked to previous ethnic violence in the Rift Valley. He said every Kenyan has a right to live in any part of the country, irrespective of their tribe, or political affiliation.
“We don’t want politics of discrimination but a Kenya where any Kenyan can live anywhere. We caution those calling others madoadoa that Kenya is for everyone,” Mr Odinga said, adding his administration would revive industries, especially in Thika, by applying smart models that can spur economy. “We want to revive the old industrial town that Thika was. We want to bring smart technology agriculture that benefits farmers where we will be sourcing markets for farm produce and do value addition. We will also subsidise farming like it is done in the US.”
