Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Coalition party presidential aspirant Raila Odinga and his Chief Cabinet Secretary nominee Kalonzo Musyoka are out of the country for a three-day trip abroad.
Raila is said to have left the country on Wednesday aboard a private jet, in the company of his daughter Winnie Odinga and Azimio Executive Director Raphael Tuju.
Azimio Press Secretary Dennis Onsarigo, while confirming the information, said Raila was on a short trip but did not give details of his destination or when he would return to the country.
However, insiders privy to Raila’s networks told The Standard that the AU Special Envoy for Infrastructure was headed to the US and would later catch up with Kalonzo, who, Standard has established, jetted out of the country quietly on Tuesday, June 7 to Namibia for his private missions.
This is the first time Raila is leaving the country since he unveiled Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua as his running mate in the August 9 presidential election.
He first spoke about his trip on Tuesday during the burial of Kajiado Central MP Elijah Memusi’s wife Stella Memusi who perished in a road accident.
“I thanked Memusi for agreeing to revise the burial date from Thursday because I had told him that I will be out of the country on that day. I will be leaving the country on Wednesday morning for a foreign trip,” Raila said.
A source told the Standard although Raila left instructions for campaigns to continue in his absence, he would use the three days to get some rest after an intensified campaign trail that culminated in the launch of the Azimio manifesto.
On Monday Raila unveiled a 10-point manifesto that has sparked online uproar after he said he would ban the importation of second-hand clothes well known as mitumba.
Although he clarified saying he meant he will protect the traders by ensuring that they get the first opportunity to market locally made clothes, his opponents in the DP William Ruto camp have mounted criticism accusing him of insensitivity over the remarks that identified mitumba as “clothes from dead people”.
