Raila can still vie in 2027, he'll be formidable – Kirwa

Former Cherangany MP Kipruto Arap Kirwa now says that despite his age, there is still hope for a Raila Odinga presidency.

He said in 2027 when the next general elections will be held, the ODM party leader will be 82 years old and will be formidable,

"In the next election, Raila will be around 82, and this means he may be formidable, and to be elected you do not need to be so energetic you just need to be present and be in tune with the wishes of the people," Kirwa said on Wednesday.

Raila Odinga has had five spirited presidential campaigns and all have ended in defeat.

As an MP and formidable opposition leader in 1997, he went for the presidency and lost as a distant third after late retired President Daniel Moi won with 2.45 million votes, followed by the late retired President Mwai Kibaki of the Democratic Party, who had 1.9 million votes.

With 665,000 votes, Raila had announced his arrival in the race.

In 2002, Raila shelved his bid and instead threw his support behind Kibaki, who won.

In 2007, he joined the race for the presidency again facing Kibaki who was declared winner with 4.58 million votes against his 4.35 million.

The election was followed by post-election violence that claimed the lives of over 1,000 people and left more than 500,000 displaced after Raila rejected the results.

In 2013, Raila was in the presidential race but this time round against Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of his father's political rival after independence in 1963.

With his second stab at the presidency, Uhuru won the election with 6.17 million votes, against Raila’s 5.34 million.

In 2017, Uhuru sought a second term where he faced off with Raila who lost. The election was later nullified by the Supreme Court but Raila boycotted the rerun.

In last month polls, Raila decided to run for a fifth time facing off William Ruto who had deputised Uhuru for 10 years.

On August 15, IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati declared Deputy President William Ruto the President-elect after he defeated Raila and two other candidates in the August 9 presidential poll.

Ruto was declared winner with 7,176,141 votes, representing 50.49 per cent of the votes cast, against Raila’s 6,942,930 votes, or 48.85 per cent of the votes cast.

However, Raila rejected the results terming them "null and void" and promised a bruising battle at the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court upheld Ruto’s win and he was sworn in last week as Kenya’s fifth president.

Raila has not yet announced on his  next political move  and whether he will run for presidency for the sixth time come 2027.