Raila, Karua meet Azimio Mt Kenya election losers
Azimio la Umoja One Kenya presidential candidate Raila Odinga and his running mate Martha Karua with a section of Mt Kenya leaders under the coalition on August 31, 2022.
What you need to know:
- This was the first meeting Mr Odinga and Ms Karua have held with leaders from the region since the August 9 General Election.
- Mr Kimunya, Mr Kioni and Mr Kega led several leaders who lost in the polls to meet the former prime minister.
- Dr Ruto's UDA party bagged the majority of elective seats in the vote-rich Mt Kenya region.
Azimio La Umoja One Kenya presidential candidate Raila Odinga and his running mate Martha Karua on Wednesday held a meeting with a section of Mt Kenya leaders under the coalition.
This was the first meeting Mr Odinga and Ms Karua have held with leaders from the region since the August 9 General Election.
Outgoing National Assembly Majority Leader Amos Kimunya, Jubilee Secretary-General Jeremiah Kioni and Jubilee National Director of Elections Kanini Kega led several leaders who lost in the polls to meet the former prime minister.
"Martha and I had a very positive engagement with Azimio leaders from the Central Kenya region. As Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition, we are committed to a one united Kenya policy," Mr Odinga posted on his social media pages.
"We are walking this path together, we are going to rebuild this country together."
President Uhuru Kenyatta threw his weight behind the candidature of Mr Odinga and Ms Karua as his preferred successors in the run-up to the August 9 poll.
But in the just concluded election, Deputy President William Ruto and his running mate Rigathi Gachagua were declared winners by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman Wafula Chebukati.
The IEBC official results showed that Dr Ruto garnered 50.5 per cent of the vote while the former prime minister got 48.8 per cent.
Mr Odinga and Ms Karua have since rejected the results and moved to the Supreme Court to challenge it.
The apex court is set to make a ruling on the same on Monday next week.
UDA wave
Mr Rigathi and Ms Karua were battling to propel their respective bosses to Statehouse, as shown by a series of extensive campaigns that took place in the vote-rich Mt Kenya region.
Ms Martha, the Narc Kenya party leader, severally took Mr Odinga and the Azimio brigade to her Kirinyaga home turf and other parts of the region. They spearheaded the slogan dubbed ‘Raila has hiked the mountain’.
However, Dr Ruto's UDA party bagged all the four parliamentary seats in Kirinyaga. Mr Gichimu Githinji (Gichugu), Mr George Kariuki (Ndia), Mr Gachoki Gitari (Kirinyaga Central) and Ms Mary Maingi (Mwea) won the seats.
The party further won 17 out of 20 MCA seats in the county. Two were won by The Service Party (TSP) while one went to the Jubilee party.
Ms Karua’s Narc Kenya party did not win any elective seat in the county.
Mr Rigathi’s appointment as Dr Ruto’s running mate was pivotal in entrenching the UDA brigade campaigns in Mt Kenya.
In Nyeri County, Mr Rigathi’s backyard, UDA grabbed all the top elective seats.
The county's constituencies' seats in Mukurwe-ini, Nyeri, Tetu, Kieni, Mathira and Nyeri Town were all clinched by UDA.
The UDA party grabbed 25 seats, ANC got one seat while four candidates were elected as independents. None of the 30 MCAs is affiliated with the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition.
