KISII, Kenya, Oct 22 – Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi on Friday declared his support for ODM leader Raila Odinga’s 2022 presidential bid vowing to fight for the former Prime Minister’s presidency “come what may”.
Speaking at Mwongori High school in Borabu Constituency during a funds drive, Matiangi told the gathering that he would “lead the Kisii committee to the next government”.
“The majority of Kenyans are where the President and Raila is and that’s where I belong,” he said dismissing Odinga’s opponents, whom he didn’t name, as hopeless.
“They will start abusing me tomorrow but tell them where they are roaming the government is here. As a community we Will never be loitering therefore you can’t expect me lead the community to where there no hope,” Matiangi told a political forum attended by a host of Odinga-allied politicians and government officials from the region.
He said the March 2018 truce between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Odinga, commonly known as the handshake, had brough leaders together and that he could not “gamble” as far as supporting the President’s vision is concerned.
“I want you by show of hands if you are supporting my declaration in moving to Raila’s camp and I promise you I won’t fail you,” the Cabinet Secretary remarked.
Odinga welcomed Matiangi’s declaration saying it came as a surprise to him.
The long-serving opposition leader who will be seeking to make the fifth stab at the presidency has attracted the support of top government officials which has recently earned him a tag State-sponsored candidate.
He also secured the backing of an influential group of business leaders from President Kenyatta’s central region backyard coalescing around the Mount Kenya Foundation (MKF).
Deputy President William Ruto who increasingly became sidelined in government after the 2018 handshake between Kenyatta and Odinga after a hotly contested 2017 presidential election has however reiterated his readiness to face Odinga in a free and fair election.
Ruto has vowed to take his campaign directly to voters dismissing MKF as a coalition of power brokers keen to subvert democracy.
