Azimio Movement leader’s think tank has mapped out the country into three zones as it crafts an effective campaign strategy that will see the outfit’s leader Raila Odinga effectively campaign and capture the aspirations of millions of Kenyans as he seeks to occupy State House in August.
The zones include strongholds, given the color blue, battlegrounds (green), and weak or vulnerable (red), with distinct strategies to be employed in each region. The strongholds are regions the ODM leader has traditionally enjoyed a lot of support, including Nyanza, Western, and Coast.
Read: All roads to Thika as Raila officially kicks off 2022 campaigns
The battlegrounds are Central, Eastern, North Eastern plus Nairobi, and they are further are subdivided into two—fair and real. Fair battlegrounds include Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Marsabit, Isiolo, and Samburu counties. Real battlegrounds are counties in Mt Kenya, parts of Eastern and some regions in the Rift Valley such as Turkana, West Pokot, Narok, and Kajiado.
The strategists have mapped out the Rift Valley as weak or vulnerable grounds, with Uasin Gishu, Kericho, Bomet, Nandi, Elgeyo Marakwet and Baringo counties considered red (vulnerable).
The Azimio Movement leader will intensely focus on the battleground regions, with the first major rally in Thika, Kiambu county, on Saturday, January 15th.
President Uhuru Kenyatta’s influence is expected to help Mr. Odinga in bagging votes from parts of the Rift Valley, Mt Kenya, and North Eastern. The strategy team recommended, that in Lower Eastern, Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka be part of a team consisting of governors Charity Ngilu (Kitui), Alfred Mutua (Machakos), and Kivutha Kibwana (Makueni).