Be ready to be betrayed, Duale tells Raila

Garissa Township MP Aden Duale says ODM leader Raila Odinga should be ready to be betrayed by President Uhuru Kenyatta as that is the nature of Kenyan politics.

Duale spoke on Tuesday during an interview with citizen TV.

He said Raila will suffer the same fate that befell Deputy President William Ruto.

According to Duale, the country is more divided than it was before the handshake between Uhuru and Raila.

The former National Assembly Majority Leader said the handshake was sugarcoated and would crumble at some point.

Duale said they are waiting for the President to spill the beans on what led to his fallout with Ruto, so that they speak of the dark secrets of Uhuru’s presidency.

“I have been Majority Leader for seven years. Both the president and his deputy who I have worked with closely are my good friends and I know them very well,” he said.

The legislator said having held his position for that long, he knows a lot of things in government.

“What I can tell the President is that we are patiently waiting so that we can also tell Kenyans what we know about his leadership,” he said.

Duale said before he left his position as Majority Leader, he held a one-on-one meeting with Uhuru.

He said the President asked him to choose between working with him or the deputy president, he chose to stick with the later.

The MP said his biggest worry and fear with Raila’s presidency is that once he is elected he will not be his own man.

“Raila cannot deny the fact that he is a state project. He is being pushed by a few individuals whose sole purpose is to advance their interest.

"If you look at the Raila of yester years when he contested and now, you can see the difference,” he said.

The former majority leader said he wonders why the president was so adamant on controlling who takes up from him, instead of following former president Mwai Kibaki's example by staying away from succession politics.

He said Raila's credentials of a human rights defender and an anti corruption crusader have long disappeared.

Duale said the fact that the ODM leader has kept mum about the bodies recovered in River Yala, was proof enough that he has gone to bed with the government.

The legislator said the president has done a lot in building the economy especially through infrastructure development.

He however said that all that will go to waste if he insists on taking control of his succession.

Duale also defended Ruto who has been accused of corruption and land grabbing.

He said that it was other high ranking government officers who were behind the vices.

(Edited by Bilha Makokha)