The United Nations’s top humanitarian official in Kenya, Modibo Toure, warned this month of concern over an “increase in violence”, as more than 450 people were killed and nearly 112,000 people fled their homes in 2012.
The race to replace Kibaki, who is stepping down after two terms, is between Odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of Kenya’s founding father Jomo Kenyatta.
Adding to tensions is the fact that Kenyatta and his running mate William Ruto both stand accused before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague of orchestrating murder, rape and violence after the last polls.
Without citing the two by name, Odinga accused Kenyatta and Ruto of trying to hijack the poll and turn the ICC into an election issue.
“There was an attempt by certain individuals accused by the ICC to try to make the elections an ICC issue. It was a futile attempt which has failed miserably,” he said.
The trials, set to begin on April 10-11, could clash with a runoff if no candidate wins outright in the first round.
Kenyatta, who protests his innocence but says he will cooperate with the ICC, has accused the international community in campaign rallies of “wanting to impose their thoughts and will on the Kenyan people” through the trials.
Odinga also expressed his gratitude towards France for its military intervention against Islamist extremists in Mali.
The game-changing French air raids against Islamists occupying Mali’s vast desert north complement efforts by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), whose members have pledged to send troops to help Malian forces root out Islamist fighters, he said.
“ECOWAS has intervened there. The French intervention there is basically a complement to the efforts of ECOWAS to push back the extremists and to create peace and civil order,” he told AFP.
Asked what he would prioritise if he wins the election, Odinga said: “Food, education, jobs…. I want to make the country self-sufficient in food production.”
He said he would cut the salary of the president and the vice president. However, when pressed on the size of the cut, he said he did not have the figures to hand.
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