NAIROBI, Kenya, April 10 – After four days in the sun, the former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) partners Kalonzo Musyoka and Moses Wetangula returned to a cold, rainy evening in Kenya on Wednesday.
The three walked into the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport VIP lounge at 6:45pm after a four-hour flight that departed from the Oliver Tambo International Airport in South Africa where, Odinga said on his arrival, they had gone to rest following a strenuous campaign period.
“We are back. We decided to take a rest after a very grueling campaign exercise that lasted nearly three months. We have now had the opportunity to relax in a very friendly environment in Southern Africa.
We’ve been watching game, we’ve been playing some games and we are now back fully rejuvenated,” said Odinga.
Now that they are back, Odinga said the coalition partners will embark on what he termed, “consultative and constructive engagements.”
Odinga refused to say whether their departure from the country three days before President Uhuru Kenyatta’s inauguration and returning a day after its conclusion was pre-meditated.
Sources within his coalition have however stated that to be the case after Odinga filed and lost a petition challenging the declaration of Kenyatta as president-elect by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) following the March 4 general election in which he came in second.