ODM leader Raila Odinga heads to Northeastern after a successful campaign blitz in the vote-rich Mt Kenya.
The Opposition chief will be in Garissa on Monday for regional consultative meetings. The engagements are expected to culminate in the former premier formally announcing his 2022 candidature later in the month.
This is the fifth regional engagement after Nyanza, Western, Coast and Rift Valley chapters.
In all those meetings, Raila received an overwhelming endorsement to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is retiring after the next general election.
ODM secretary general Edwin Sifuna told the Star that the Azimio La Umoja team will be in Garissa next week on Monday.
“We will be in Garissa on Monday for the regional consultative meeting with the people of Northeastern,” Sifuna said on the phone.
Delegates from Mandera, Isiolo, Wajir will converge at Garissa town to make their declaration.
Initially, the Garissa chapter was to be held on Thursday but was moved to Monday to allow Raila to grace the unveiling of Baringo Senator Gideon Moi as Kanu 2022 presidential flagbearer.
Raila and Gideon have of late been relating closely, fuelling speculation that they could work together.
Apart from gracing Gideon’s event, last weekend the Baringo senator was to preside over a major funds drive at Ageng’a Secondary School in Migori, which was hosted by Raila’s spokesperson Dennis Onyango. It signalled that Gideon has Raila's blessing to visit his Nyanza turf.
Raila is using the regional engagements to hear from residents the problems they face and how to surmount them.
The ODM leader also uses such platforms to explain his agenda for the country and his priorities for the regions if elected president.
The Monday meeting comes on the backdrop of a three-day successful Mt Kenya campaign blitz that saw him hold huge roadside rallies as the battle for the vote-rich region shapes up.
After nightlong talks in Nanyuki last weekend, governors Francis Kimemia (Nyandarua), Ndiritu Murithi (Laikipia) and Kiambu’s James Nyoro took Raila on a symbolic lap on the Nairobi-Nanyuki highway.
He traversed Laikipia, Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Murang'a and Kiambu counties. The governors pledged to rally the region behind him.
“Now he should get his message right so that we have clarity and understand what is on the table for us from him. He has started his journey right, at the right time, with the right attitude,” Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu.
