- Before the IEBC, it will signal the start of presidential politics for the presidency
- Raila has better chances of winning the presidency this time round.
Image: CHARLES MUNYUI
The event Raila Odinga will be holding on Friday is really good for him and his team.
He has been moving around the country. He has never said he’s vying for president but I think everybody expects that he’ll declare his intention that day.
It’s expected he'll raise issues that he wants to resolve, having moved around the country and met with political, religious leaders, elders, women and youth from different regions. He has listened to them and identified their issues.
It is a good time to announce that he’s running for that top seat.
He’ll get traction because he’s able to articulate what the country needs and what he has been doing, working together with President Uhuru Kenyatta, to bring it about.
Now that Uhuru is retiring, Raila will demonstrate how different his style will be.
In the past, Raila has always concentrated on certain areas.
He has not been keen on the whole, unlike this time when we are seeing him moving across the whole country, including Mt Kenya region.
He has really visited that region in a big way, several times.
So, the Friday’s event is where he’ll officially roll out his campaign machinery properly.
It’ll be the beginning or it will signal the start of politics in as far as the presidency is concerned.
Raila has better chances of winning the presidency this time around.
He’s keen on devolution.
If you listen to him, he’s talking about rural economy. He’s been so keen on devolution to the extent that some point, he wanted a third tier of government introduced.
Basically, what he’s saying is that he wants resources headed towards that direction, not centralised.
That aspect of rural economy, rural electricity, and rural roads is really going down well with the people.
Remember, he also supported the increasing of allocation to counties from the current 15 per cent to 35 per cent through a constitutional amendment.
Governors have already bought the idea. MCAs too. That tells a lot. We’ve seen what devolution can do.
What Raila is telling the counties is that if he comes in, he will be able to work with them so that they can grow.
The governance consultant spoke to the Star
(Edited by V. Graham)