Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Alliance presidential candidate Raila Odinga and his running mate Martha Karua have appealed to Murang’a residents to turn out in large numbers to vote for them.
The duo toured the county together for the first time days after Karua met a group of community health workers and vowed to make repeated visits.
They toured Gatanga, Kandara and Kigumo constituencies accompanied by a host of leaders from the alliance and local candidates.
Murang'a has been a stronghold of Kenya Kwanza following a revolt by locals against the Jubilee government in the last few years.
The two told residents their history speaks for itself and they are known for fighting for the rights of Kenyans and effecting development.
Raila said he designed most of the major roads being constructed in the Central region, including the Sh15.6 billion Kenol-Sagana-Marua dual carriageway that seeks to open up the region while linking the capital city to the northern parts of the country.
He also cited the 540km Mau Mau road project that traverses Kiambu Nyandarua, Murang’a and Nyeri counties.
He took the time to elaborate his manifesto that includes free education from nursery school to university level.
“We will fight ignorance, poverty and disease in order to lift the country economically,” he said, adding that he will ensure all trained teachers are employed.
Raila hit out at his main competitor, Deputy President William Ruto, for promising to provide laptops to school children in 2013 but instead giving youths wheelbarrows a decade later.
“He promised to make children tech-savvy and now he is giving them wheelbarrows. His promises cannot be trusted,” he said.
The ODM leader assured local farmers that their interests will be well catered for in his administration and the reforms being implemented in the agriculture sector will continue.
Coffee prices have increased for the first time in years following reforms in the sector that saw majority of the farmers sell their coffee to New KPCU, edging out private millers that have been accused of colluding with co-operative society leaders to swindle farmers.
Raila also highlighted Babacare that he said will ensure health facilities are well equipped and are taken nearer to the people. Incidences of hospitals lacking drugs will be history, he said.
“All Kenyans will be covered by NHIF and the poor will have their premiums footed by the government to ensure they access health care at all times,” he added, assuring locals that all projects started by the Jubilee government will be completed.
Karua asked locals to vet leaders’ records before making a decision on whom to vote for.
“Ask any one of our competitors who have been in government to show you what they have done even in one village. If everywhere someone goes people are left screaming that their funds are lost, why would you employ a driver with a record of causing accidents to carry you into your future?
“You know me well and you know Raila. He has fought for your interests even when he was not in government, you heard his voice fighting for Kenyans. In humility, I ask you to vote for us because the vote is in your pocket and I cannot take it forcefully,” she said.
Edited by Henry Makori
