Two thirds of citizens want Raila in active politics

By ALLY JAMAH

NAIROBI, KENYA: A large majority of Kenyans want former Prime Minister Raila Odinga to continue with politics despite increasing calls by rival politicians in the Jubilee administration asking him to retire from the scene.

This means that more Kenyans now want Raila to remain in politics compared to five months ago.

In July this year, Ipsos Synovate released poll results revealing that 32 per cent of Kenyans wanted Raila to remain politically active and even possibly contest the presidency again.

The latest poll, released yesterday by the research firm indicated that or at least two out every three Kenyans polled (or 59 per cent) now support the former premier’s continued involvement in politics.

However, only about half of them (32 per cent overall) would want him to contest the presidency again in 2017.

By contrast, over a third would prefer that he retires from politics completely (39 per cent), a slight increase from the proportion that held this view in June (36 per cent).

Some politicians from the Jubilee coalition want the former PM to quit politics before he can receive a retirement package but Raila has rejected the offer, terming it an insult.

The July poll showed that respondents from Central, Eastern and Rift Valley regions at 66 per cent, 44 per cent and 38 per cent respectively felt that Raila’s political career should end while those in Coast and Nyanza at 46 per cent and 48 per cent respectively felt his future in politics is still bright.

After the former PM lost in the March 4 General Election to President Uhuru Kenyatta, there were reports he would return to Parliament together with his CORD partner former Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka.

Uhuru won the presidency with 50.07 per cent beating Raila, who polled 43.31 per cent of the 12.3 million votes cast.

The former premier has given all indications that he is not just about to withdraw from active politics and may again make a stab at the presidency.

In a recent interview with The Standard, Raila said his focus now was to strengthen CORD alliance and hinted he is not yet done with politics.