NAIROBI, Kenya Oct 10 – Kikuyu Council of Elders trooped to Bondo, the rural home of Opposition leader Raila Odinga on Saturday, in what observers see as an endorsement for the top job in 2022.
The elders who performed several rituals in the meeting attended by Luo and Kikuyu elected leaders, will be followed by another one in Mt Kenya.
Organisers of the Bondo meeting said Luo elders are also set to visit Mt Kenya for more talks, as the race for the 2022 succession hots up.
The meeting is seen as part of a well-crafted initiative to ensure Luos and Kikuyus end their differences which date back to the years of Odinga’s father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga who openly differed with founding president Jomo Kenyatta.
The meeting was also seen as part of Kenyatta and Odinga’s agreement in the Building Bridges Initiative to bring the two communities together.
“We are now one, we have no differences,” said Maina Kamanda, the nominated Member of Parliament who has been on the frontline in campaigning for Odinga to be on the ballot in 2022 when President Uhuru Kenyatta’s second and final term ends.
Odinga said he was ready to work with Mt Kenya, assuring that he will continue to support President Uhuru Kenyatta and his development agenda.
He casigated Deputy President William Ruto for “disrespecting the president.”
“Let him just resign because he has no respect for the president,” Odinga said, “he is busy campaigning.”
National Assembly Minority Leader John Mbadi and Senator James Orengo of Siaya took the opportunity to urge Deputy President William Ruto to resign for undermining his boss, President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“You can be the Deputy President and keep campaigning every day as if we have elections tomorrow,” Orengo said, “the president’s seat is not vacant.
Ruto is leading a brigade inside and outside government, opposed to the association of Kenyatta and Odinga, which he sees as a plot to lock him out of the 2022 presidential race.
Lately, his meetings have been dispersed by police starting with Nyamira and Western Kenya where truckloads of police officers were deployed to clear venues, declaring that his meetings guised as prayers or youth empowerment are not authorised.
On Saturday, dozens of people including leaders Bonny Khalwale were teargassed while inspecting the ground where Ruto was scheduled to attend a prayer and fundraising event on Sunday.
“These are double standards,” Khalwale said, questioning why other leaders, like Odinga, are still allowed to hold meetings.
Head of the Civil Service Joseph Kinyua on Wednesday declared that the National Security Advisory Committee (NSAC) had outlawed all political meetings and urged organisers to first clearance from the police.
The decision was ratified by the Cabinet attended by the Deputy President on Thursday, although he immediately dismissed the police action after the cabinet.
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