Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader Raila Odinga has told off “Tanga Tanga” MPs from the Mt Kenya region who wrote to President Uhuru Kenyatta saying that they cannot “sell” him to the region.
Speaking to journalists in Bondo, Raila said that no one had asked them to market him in the region, arguing that he has direct access to Mt Kenya region since it is part of Kenya.
“No one asked them to market Raila in Central Kenya, if Raila wants to market himself in Central, he does not need them to do that,” he said.
Raila spoke after attending the burial of his former classmate the late Jushua Ogendi at Nyakasumbi village in Bondo sub-county.
In a letter dated January 28, 41 politicians from the Mt Kenya region wrote to President Kenyatta ahead of the Sagana meeting in Nyeri County on Saturday, expressing their dissatisfaction with his leadership.
The Members of Parliament including Senate Chief Whip Irungu Kang’ata, who recently wrote a similar letter to the President detailing the unpopularity of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) draft Bill in the Mount Kenya region, listed at least 10 points that they want the president to consider ahead of the Sagana meeting.
Notably, the defiant lawmakers claimed that the president’s handshake partner Raila Odinga is “unsellable” in the region, further warning the President against imposing him or any other candidate as the region’s favourite ahead of the 2022 race to State House.
Read: The Roles Of Prime Minister As Proposed In BBI Report
“Raila Odinga Your Excellency, For 8 years, between 2011 and 2018, you consistently and persistently cautioned us that Raila Odinga was Kenya’s foremost problem, and pleaded with us to send him home for the country to move forward. You were only emphasizing what our people already knew, taking into account his history In the use of violence and ethnic divisions as a means to achieve political power.
“As a result, he is an existential threat to the economy and national unity. We must be direct and truthful with you: We cannot sell Raila Odinga in our region or, indeed, any other imposed presidential candidate. You blame the leaders and people of the Mt. Kenya region for being reluctant to accept the Handshake and the BBI. It is not their fault. The successful effort you made to persuade the people and render Raila Odinga unacceptable in Mt. Kenya cannot be undone in your lifetime, ” the letter reads.
The leaders accused the President of having betrayed his deputy who he had promised to support during the 2013 and 2017 Presidential elections.
However, speaking during the Sagana meeting, President Kenyatta rubbished claims that he had any political debt owed to Ruto.
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