Raila Odinga bets on unity in his 2022 bid

ODM leader Raila Odinga yesterday launched what he described as a unity, restoration and transformation strategy.

The Azimio la Umoja strategy is seen as aimed at countering Deputy President William Ruto’s bottom-up economic model as the race for State House gathers pace ahead of the August 2022 General Election.

Mr Odinga launched the strategy in Nakuru, in DP Ruto’s Rift Valley political turf, just hours after Jubilee Party, led by President Kenyatta, and formally confirmed it was in coalition talks with ODM.

During the launch, Mr Odinga dismissed the DP’s bottom-up campaign platform as an attempt to propagate class wars through “mere words and slogans”.

He said wheelbarrows, which have come to symbolise the DP’s presidential campaign, will not solve Kenya’s problems.

The former Prime Minister asked Kenyans to support the unity bid he and the Head of State were championing for a more prosperous country. On his stopovers at Uhuru Garden, Pincam and Sarova Woodland, among others, Mr Odinga said he and President Kenyatta had identified the problems facing the country and time had come to heal the country and unite Kenyans from all walks of life.

Presidential candidate

The choice of Nakuru, just 70 kilometres from Naivasha, where the One Kenya Alliance (OKA) announced it will field a presidential candidate of its own, was significant for the ODM leader.

Nakuru was also the place where the surprise truce between President Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto was cemented in 2012, one year before the two won the March 2013 General Election.

“Sluggish economic growth, insecurity, exclusion from economic and political life, tribal rivalries, corruption, lack of a shared sense of civic responsibility and a divisive electoral process are some of the major issues that the country is facing.

“We cannot continue to bury the truth that this country stagnates every election year; we cannot continue to lie that ours is an equal and happy society. Sooner rather than later, the truth will catch up with us and indeed, it has caught up with us,” Mr Odinga said.

He added: “Most sectors of our economy are experiencing severe challenges. Workers in our factories are feeling the pinch. Doctors, teachers, university academic and non-academic staff are all caught in daily battles to make ends meet and they now feel that no matter how hard they try, they cannot make it.” 

According to Mr Odinga, the country needs to create jobs and absorb educated graduates in order to pull people out of poverty.

“As we head to 2022, these problems have become tools for emotional and irrational appeals. A section of leaders is taking advantage instead of addressing the problems,” said Mr Odinga.

“We must start talking about how to ensure elections are not about government but about governance. A country where elections are not death traps.”

He said that together with the President, they had figured out how to address punitive taxation to support investors.

Mr Odinga said that through the Azimio la Umoja strategy, he and President Kenyatta would create the political and ideological environment the country needs.

“We believe that to address the problems afflicting Kenyans in a sustainable manner, we must bring the diversity of our people, their leaders and their problems onto one table and embark on a systematic and transparent search for solutions as equal stakeholders,” he said.

Face of Kenya

Mr Odinga, who was accompanied by Governors Anne Waiguru, Lee Kinyanjui and Wycliffe Oparanya and other leaders, said that ODM and Jubilee leaders would go round the country to unveil a vehicle reflecting the face of Kenya.

Those who accompanied him heaped praises on Mr Odinga, saying, they trusted his leadership and that it was time to reward him for his efforts in ensuring that there is democracy in Kenya.

Nominated MP Maina Kamanda likened Mr Odinga to Nelson Mandela who helped liberate South Africa.

“I’ve fought this man earlier, not because he has done anything to me or my community but because he was standing against one of us. I changed my perspective of him from March 2018. I couldn’t imagine this old man agreeing to talk to the President because he was capable of taking power by force,” Mr Kamanda said.

The launch also coincided with a meeting between DP Ruto and a section of Central Kenya spiritual leaders at his Karen home where he castigated leaders who were rushing to form political coalitions.