NASA has retreated to its Nyanza and western strongholds to consolidate support following an aggressive charm offensive by Jubilee, 22 days to the polls.
The NASA brigade, stung by Jubilee’s forays into the region, stormed Nyamira
on Sunday
asking supporters not to be hoodwinked by Jubilee goodies being dangled to woo voters ahead of the polls.
The NASA tour is a response to Deputy President
William Ruto’s campaigns in Nyamira on
Thursday
last week as Jubilee seeks to turn the critical vote bloc into a swing region.
Nyamira and Kisii have close to 800,000 registered voters.
Led by Presidential candidate Raila Odinga, the opposition traversed Nyamira, the strategic
county
that has attracted significant attention from Jubilee in the last two weeks.
Campaigning in Ekerenyo, Magwagwa and Rigoma, Raila appealed to the Kisii community to turn out and "actualise my dream to deliver the third and final liberation for Kenya".
He took a stinging swipe at President Uhuru Kenyatta over the controversial compensation of integrated IDPs from the region saying the
reparation
was "too little too late.”
“What they (Uhuruto) are doing is not compensating IDPs from Nyamira, Kisumu, Kakamega and other parts of the country that were affected by 2007/8 post-election violence but dishing out money to entice voters in our strongholds to vote for Jubilee,” the NASA
flagbearer
said.
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During their extensive tour of Kisii and Nyamira counties mid last month, Uhuru and Deputy
president
William Ruto gave out Sh830 million to compensate the victims of Kenya’s darkest moments.
The ex-premier also questioned why IDPs from Kisii, Nyamira and Kakamega were being given peanuts while those from Central and Rift Valley regions were handsomely compensated.
"President Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto came to Nyamira and went to Meru where they gave IDPs only Sh20m. The two leaders had in the past given IDPs from Central and Rift Valley Sh400,000 and land. This is a high order of discrimination," Raila charged at a rally in Magwagwa.
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Raila also lashed out at Uhuru for discriminately waiving tea and coffee farmers’ debts with a
specific
focus on some regions.
"When Nasa takes over, we will ensure that all coffee and tea debts are waived without discrimination," Raila told his supporters.
In what appears to be a vicious response to the Jubilee onslaught, Raila will
on Monday
lead troops to his Homa Bay bastion, just four days after Uhuru visited the region to launch development projects.
On Tuesday and
Wednesday,
the NASA presidential campaign team chairman Musalia Mudavadi will lead campaigns in Western before heading to join his colleagues in Kitui on
Thursday.