Elections rigging will not help Africa so it must be condemned, Raila Odinga has told Zimbabweans, in an explanation on why he took his contentious oath.
The veteran Opposition leader noted the continent must rise to the occasion and stand for proper elections that are held with transparency.
"Rigged elections will not help Africa as a whole ... that is why I decided to take an oath clearly to say 'this far we go we will not go further down'," he said.
He added:
"Results must conform with how the people voted. Africa is littered with elections which are rigged and the rigging of election must not be guarded."
Concerning poll observers, Raila said they must stop
sanitising rigged election processes.
The Nasa leader issued these remarks on Tuesday while mourning
Movement for Democratic Change Morgan Tsvangirai, who was Zimbabwe's Opposition boss.
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Raila told the people that
Tsvangirai's election victory was stolen a year after his was stolen in Kenya, a dispute that resulted in violence in 2007/8.
The politician beat Robert Mugabe in the first round of presidential polls in 2008 but narrowly fell short of the total required to defeat him outright.
Raila said: "His election victory was stolen. He agreed to sacrifice his victory in order to save Zimbabwe. He became one of the leading icons of the second liberation of Africa."
Tsvangirai was a tenacious opponent of ruling Zanu-PF party’s four-decade hold on power.
Following the 2008 election violence, he was forced into a power-sharing government with Mugabe who was ousted last year following a military takeover.
This was similar to what happened to Raila who was forced to share a government with then-President Mwai Kibaki.
Raila attended the burial of
Tsivangirai who succumbed to colon cancer at a South African hospital on February 14. He was 65.
His and Tsivangirai's friendship dates back to 1993 when the two formidable government critics met in Zimbabwe.
Raila says nothing will derail his
grand plans that concern taking "suffering Kenyans" to the promised land of 'Canaan', where issues such as corruption and poor resource distribution will not haunt them.
The ODM leader considers President Uhuru Kenyatta an illegitimate ruler who must be removed from power.
But the
future of the National Super Alliance is uncertain following his 'swearing-in' on January 30. His co-principals did not go to Uhuru Park in Nairobi and have been termed cowards for this.
But they insist they still support him and that the coalition is intact.
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