ODM chief Raila Odinga will next week stage a mammoth rally of 60,000 attendees for the climax of the Azimio La Umoja countrywide meetings.
It is here Raila is expected to announce his fifth run for the presidency.
The December 10 event at Kasarani Sports Centre is expected to showcase all the power and might of the former prime minister.
While the collapse of the Building Bridges Initiative dealt Raila a considerable setback, the ODM boss is now using the Azimio La Umoja offshoot to reinvent himself ahead of the 2022 general Election.
The upcoming celebration, therefore, is a big moment for Raila to summon his support base and demonstrate his vigour and political muscle to make a fifth stab at the presidency.
Organisers have explained it will not only be an Orange party event but a national event with leaders from across the political spectrum.
The mega convention will have all the hallmarks of a presidential declaration.
With planners racing against time to conclude plans for the event, the ODM boss is expected to would use the platform to build his case for why he is the man to lead Kenya.
“The ODM leader has traversed the country holding consultations with Kenyans of all shades. Expectations are high that a major announcement would be made,” ODM National Treasurer Timothy Bosire said.
The former Kitutu Masaba MP emphasised that Raila will seize the moment to recap the resolutions from across the country before announcing his 2022 plans.
“This is the climax of the meetings and Baba (Raila) will demonstrate that he has the capacity and ability to lead this country,” Bosire said.
The ceremony will only serve as a platform for Raila to declare his presidential candidature and not an ODM affair to give him the party's ticket.
The party will later take Raila through the structures —including subjecting him to competition if any — before endorsing him as the ODM flagbearer.
ODM is likely to hold a National Delegates Convention later when Raila will be handed the party's mantle.
PRESIDENTIAL FAVOUR
Next week's bash comes at a time President Uhuru Kenyatta appears to openly favour Raila in the gruelling State House battle to succeed him next year.
The President opposes Deputy President William Ruto taking control of the country.
For instance, the President on Wednesday endorsed a Raila presidency, scoffing at Ruto's early campaigns and youth-centred narratives, which he said incite young people by making them feel deprived.
“You can start early (campaigns) with speed but before long, you are tired and the person you branded old will come at his pace and overtake you,” Uhuru said of Ruto in Nakuru.
The event organisers are sending out troves of invitations to influential political figures across the continent; at least 200 MPs are expected to attend.
The ODM boss has extended invitations to at least four heads of state from the continent and a host of party leaders for the event.
The list of the international dignitaries was not immediately available, but Raila, who is the AU's High Representative for Infrastructure, has built a massive continental and global profile and network of powerful friends.
Recently, Raila has been taking the battle outside Kenya's borders, tapping influential figures.
The former Prime Minister is a close associate of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the DRC’s Felix Tshisekedi, Zambia’s Hakainde Hichilema as well as former Nigerian President Olesegun Obasanjo.
In East Africa, Raila has close ties with Tanzania and in Uganda, where he has been flirting with the opposition.
On Thursday, Suna East MP and National Assembly Minority Whip Junet Mohamed told the Star the ODM boss will stage a rally "never been witnessed in recent months".
“This will be a mother of all gatherings,” the Raila confidante said.
The MP said Kenyans should expect a major announcement, signalling Raila that could throw his hat into the presidential ring.
“Over 200 MPs, 40 senators and 40 governors have already confirmed their attendance. This will definitely be a rehearsal of Baba (Raila)'s swearing-in,” Mohamed said.
A technical team has decided to hold the event at the stadium with its bigger capacity, and not in the Kasarani gymnasium.
Governors friendly to Raila across the country are expected to mobilise attendees. Nairobi county is expected to send the most people.
The event would dwarf previous events recently held by rivals in the city, including the National Delegates Conventions by Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper), Moses Wetang'ula (Ford Kenya) Gideon Moi's Kanu.
Musalia Mudavadi of the ANC is expected to convene his NDC in January to declare his run for the presidency.
The event is expected to be preceded by a meeting with ODM Nairobi branch delegates who will endorse Raila for the country's top seat.
Makadara MP George Aladwa, who is also the ODM Nairobi branch chairman, told The Star that the process would be two-pronged before Raila finally receives the party's blessings.
“The Azimio will not be the venue for Baba to be formally nominated as that must be done by the party later. He will be taken through other party procedures later,” Aladwa said.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to top the invite list, as well as the main opposition leaders in the One Kenya Alliance.
Raila was the main highlight of Wiper's NDC on November 25 although other Oka chiefs were also present, tipping the country for a possible reunion with Kalonzo.
The delegates attending the event are being carefully selected to represent the face of Kenya where Raila has received overwhelming endorsement during his Azimio La Umoja engagements.
ODM deputy party leader and Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya told the Star, "The day Kenyans have been waiting for is finally nigh."
'That would be Baba's big day and we expect a lot of international and local dignitaries to attend. All that I can assure Kenyans is that a major announcement will be made,” he said.
The massive attendance by at least 40 governors and senators present would demonstrate Raila's has countrywide support and control of the majority of counties, representing a formidable war chest against Ruto.
Once endorsed by ODM, Raila will then set to face Ruto, the man whose 2013 and 2017 presidential campaign machine with Uhuru Kenyatta crushed his State House ambitions.
(Edited by V. Graham)
