Raila taps into Uhuru campaign machine in Central

Azimio la Umoja–One Kenya Alliance presidential candidate Raila Odinga has launched a charm offensive in the Mt Kenya region to consolidate votes ahead of the August elections.

Raila, who has never enjoyed the backing of the region since he first ran for the presidency in 1997, has put in place a strategy to tap into the Jubilee Party machinery that propelled President Uhuru Kenyatta to victory in the 2013 and 2017 elections.

In a series of meetings with leaders from the region who won in the recent Jubilee primaries, Raila is seeking to wrestle a chunk of the voters from the region seen to be currently supporting UDA presidential candidate William Ruto.

Yesterday, Raila appealed to those who clinched Jubilee tickets during the primaries and other Azimio affiliated parties that they should not be afraid to sell his candidature to the electorate and promised to accommodate those who lose in the August elections in his government.

“Do not be afraid to sell Raila to the electorate. We have come together to consolidate the votes in the larger Mt Kenya. All those aspiring as MCAs, National Assembly Members, Senators, Woman Representatives and Governors should not be afraid of selling Raila,” he said.

Bottom up

Raila urged the aspirants that the Azimio secretariat led by Raphael Tuju had formed committees from the Ward level all the way to the constituency and county levels and will be supported by the National Secretariat.

He asked aspirants in Kiambu county to be his foot soldiers.

“You are the link between the voters and me,” said Raila.

He pledged that his administration would ensure that Kenya’s economy is on the right track.

The former Prime Minister accused Ruto of seeking to entrench poverty using his Bottom Up economic model.

“We will not just create jobs, but we will create meaningful jobs to our people and our youths. We do not just want to give jobs because jobs are jobs, we have the potential of creating meaningful jobs,” said Raila.

While drumming up support for Raila during the meeting with Kiambu aspirants at Windsor Hotel in the county, Tuju said there was a reason Uhuru had decided to back the former premier for the top seat.

Tuju described Raila as a reformist and a champion of good governance while Ruto, he said, was only out to secure his own interests.

“I did not vote for Raila in 2017 but there is a reason why we are supporting his candidacy. He is a person who thinks about the country first and is not selfish. President Uhuru knows Ruto more than you know him and there is a reason why he is not supporting him,” said Tuju.

Single mothers

The Azimio Executive Director told the aspirants that Uhuru’s administration had achieved more thanks to the support he received from Raila after the March 2018 Handshake.

Murang’a Woman Representative Sabina Chege, who is also a member of the Azimio Council, asked the gathering to back Raila’s candidature.

She claimed that their opponents had looted public coffers and should not be trusted with the leadership of the country.

“Show me your friends and I will show you your character. If you look at those coalescing around him, almost all of them are tainted with corruption. Is that the team you want to place at leadership helm?” posed Chege.

Nyeri Deputy Governor Carol Karugu said that under a Raila’s administration, women, single mothers and widows would benefit from a special social protection programme, adding that the aspirants should tell the electorate the truth about Azimio’s manifesto.

“The programme will help single mothers. In fact Central Kenya has many single mothers. A social protection programme is what we want. The Sh6,000 will help cushion the poor of the poorest in society,” she said.

Former Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth said the politics of the country had changed, adding that Coast, North Eastern, Eastern, Nairobi, Samburu and Turkana all back Raila.

 “I have accompanied Raila in many parts of the country and they are all backing his presidency. Where there is a problem is only Central. We also need to be in Raila’s camp and ultimately in his government. Kiambu is the biggest county in Mt Kenya and once Kiambu delivers, Mount Kenya will have delivered,” said Kenneth.

He said the campaign think-tanks were in the final stages of preparing a manifesto that would be given to the candidates to sensitise the electorate with.