The Azimio La Umoja Movement National Delegates Convention has officially declared Raila Odinga as the person they have chosen to be our next president come August 9, 2022.
It has been a long and grueling journey for Raila but his chances of clinching the presidency of our republic has never looked better than they are today.
That is because Azimio La Umoja team has assembled a coalition with many of the giants in Kenya today, all joining hands to move the country forward and away from the quarrelsome angry William Ruto UDA platform.
Kenyans want a space to breathe easy in the country. To do that they need a decent, honest, and committed team under the leadership of a tested Kenyan politician who believes in inclusivity and building a broad tent that reflects the nation and its interests. They got that in Raila Odinga and the stellar coalition of leaders around him in this journey for our country.
The decision by Kalonzo Musyoka to join the Azimio team and support Raila’s quest for the presidency was pretty much the last nail in Ruto’s political coffin.
All corridors of hope for Ruto including Kalonzo running his own presidential race and opening a window for him are now dead.
In fact, President Uhuru Kenyatta lauded Wiper Leaders’ decision to shelve his presidential bid in support of Raila Odinga. Uhuru said Kalonzo’s sacrifice will not be overlooked.
“It isn’t that Kalonzo was incapable. He is very capable of becoming president but decided to support his brother Raila.”
There is a very positive sign from the Azimio leadership that Kalonzo’s support in joining Azimio Coalition will not be taken for granted, just like those of the other leaders and parties who joined the Azimio movement to liberate the country from a possible crazy regime of William Ruto which has to be stopped in its tracks.
Meanwhile down at Jacaranda Grounds Kenyans were just warming up to hear from Azimio leaders. What a day it has been for the country. It could multiply.
Read: Raila Odinga marches through the country to Azimio’s big event
As these historic events were going on, William Ruto was launching a full campaign for boda boda riders after a bunch of thugs working as boda bodas viciously attacked a young woman in her car, tried to undress her in public as a stunned crowd looked. Someone took a video so Kenyans saw and got really pissed off.
The government launched a huge crackdown on boda boda riders which was becoming intrusive to the riders and the government has now stopped the general crackdown.
Many Kenyan leaders have shown support for the boda boda workers and were concerned about the crackdown including Raila Odinga but each one of them has condemned the attack on that young girl and is asking for order and safety for everyone involved in the boda boda business.
Not William Ruto who has not uttered a single word condemning the attack. Ruto seems to see the crackdown as a window for him to project himself as the protector of boda boda riders. Isn’t public safety important to Ruto as well even as we all use and need bodas bodas to travel in the country everyday?
“Boda boda ni biashara halali, ni kama wafanyabiashara wengine. Huwezi sema wahalifu ni watu wa boda boda, kuna wakora ofisi na kila mahali,” said the DP.
“Jukumu la polisi ni kupambana na wakora na wahalifu waachane na wanabiashara halali. The fight against criminals should not be targeted only on the boda boda sector; all criminals should be dealt with within the confines of the law,” he stated.
As of this time in our history, the battle could never be drawn more clearly. We have a nine-year deputy president William Ruto whom his boss says is not fit for the highest office in the land namely to be our President and Commander In Chief.
That is a huge dent on Ruto who has very courageously shown his independence and came up with his bottom-up model of development to benefit Kenyans in low-income groups. That is now before Kenyans. That is a good thing and that is what elections are for.
If you want to lead our country, put your ideas on the table, and wananchi will look at it and decide what makes sense and what is just hot air.
On the other hand, we have Raila Odinga the Azimio Coalition candidate who has been in Kenya politics for a very long time, with nine years of those spent in jail and detention centers everywhere in Kenya as Kenyans were fighting to end one-party- rule and usher in an era of democracy in our republic.
Raila has worked in opposition and in government at various levels with his last stint in government being with Mwai Kibaki after the Narc victory ending the Moi rule.
With Mwai Kibaki as the President and Raila Odinga as the Prime Minister of Kenya after tumultuous elections in 2007, the country progressed in many aspects to bring peace and put Kenya back together. They succeeded and one of their best achievements is that after so many battles Kenya finally had a new constitution for the country in 2010.
Today Raila made it clear that fighting corruption will be one of his first priorities. Raila declared the three dont’s in fighting corruption by his government if he wins the elections.
Raila stressed that his government will attack without fear or favour.
In handling this, Raila said he would apply the three don’ts in his approach.
“In the fight against corruption, I will apply the principle of the three prohibitions; I Do not want, Do not do, Don’t dare,” he stated.
The issue now is for Raila to come up with a plan on the ground to stop anybody from committing any of the three sins.
If our politicians and their appointees go on with stealing Kenyan’s money what is President Raila Odinga going to do about that.
Kenyans need Raila to put a plan of action in place to stop those who want to continue stealing their money and deal with those who are caught if the executive branch of our government can allocate enough resources to the investigators to unearth all the theft going on.
Kenyans know that unless we curb corruption there will be no money for basic services, leave alone development projects. Kenyans want to hear from both leaders how they are going to handle this and that is just a start. We have a long journey in front of us.
Raila has one thing going for him among many other things including the horizons of issues for developing the country that will come from each member of the team.
Raila also has the sense of inevitability and if that rolls in he will be our 5th president.
Many Kenyans have no problem with Raila Odinga. He is an affable person and he likes to have fun with other Kenyans.
Kenyans know his politics and where he stands on important issues to them. But there has always been this sense that Raila could be the best president Kenya never had.
As Raila gets embraced by millions of Kenyans all over the country a momentum is building towards Kenyans saying finally Raila can be our president and we are going to vote for him.
And it looks good on him and the Azimio Coalition.
This is a frightening thing to see if you are William Ruto and UDA but it is what it is. The walls could be tumbling down on him the next few months.
Kenyans will decide on who they trust to form a functioning and efficient government to guide them into the 21st century where our country needs to be more productive.
The next government must ensure that Kenyans have basic needs like food availability and healthcare for all its citizens. This is not charity to people who need basic survival supplies from all communities in our country.
Kenya needs to be competitive in the regional economy with our neighbours like Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Somali, DRC, and many others. We can do it.
We have Mombasa Port well known for international shipping across the continents and so many other mass transportation outlets for goods and merchandise across the region.
That is a huge advantage Kenya has in regional trade and the movement of goods.
On the global map, Kenya is already there. I was threatening my workmates the other day when I told them that if Canada tries to mess with Kenya we will cut them off from our coffee.
There would be no Starbucks. No Tim Hortons and others selling Kenyan coffee which every Canadian needs to get into the energy of working and keeping at it.
I told them if we cut them off coffee the first few days they will chew gum going to work. Then they will start jogging. They will do yoga and all that stuff but if the coffee ain’t coming back they will blow off and tell their government to talk to us.
I then asked them if they can see how Kenya is so important in their lives.
Yes indeed they said and of course, our country is most important to the citizens of the republic renowned for their marvelous ingenuity and being world leaders in so many spheres of human life.
Adongo Ogony is a Human Rights Activist and a Writer who lives in Toronto, Canada
