Azimio plans fresh selection of candidates

Azimio la Umoja One Kenya presidential candidate Mr Raila Odinga yesterday said the coalition will conduct fresh polls to ascertain the most popular candidate among those fronted by affiliate parties

Speaking in Naivasha, Mr Raila the move is meant to ensure that Azimio secures majority seats in Parliament and county assemblies.

He warned that the exercise would be painful but was quick to note that this was meant to strengthen the coalition.

“We have ten aspirants from Azimio vying for the same position and this will split out votes and make it easy for our opponents to win,” he said.

Mr Raila called for tolerance saying the coalition was advocating for consensus from all the candidates and promised to bankroll campaigns for those who will be picked.

The most affected aspirants will be those from ODM, Jubilee and Wiper, which are the dominant parties in the coalition.

Raila, who was accompanied by Jubilee top guns, held meetings in Nyandarua and Nakuru counties.

He assured his supporters that the Azimio government will in 100 days address the economic crisis in the country, which has pushed up the cost of living.

“My government will increase funding to counties as part of supporting devolution and also address the issue of health cover for all Kenyans,” he said.

Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui said local leaders would rally the more than one million Nakuru county voters behind Mr Odinga but requested that the county be considered for national government positions.

“In the past governments, Nakuru has missed out in Cabinet, parastatals and ambassadorial appointments and it is our hope this will be addressed this time around,” he said.

At Oljororok, Raila addressed fears by Azimio candidates that being associated with him is likely to cost them votes. 

He noted that some candidates were producing campaign posters and branding their vehicles without including his portrait, which would affect efforts to popularise his presidential candidature.

“You should never go to war in doubt or else, you lose to your enemies. Don’t have fear. Have my pictures on your posters with confidence as you campaign. We shall win this if we work as a team,” said Raila.

Raila said he would make public his manifesto in the next one week and dismissed Deputy President William Ruto’s bottom-up economic model as unrealistic for the country.

“In the next 10 days, we shall have released our manifesto anchored on 10 pillars among them health, infrastructure, industrialisation, agriculture and education. This is a realistic plan unlike the empty bottom-up promise,” he said.

He urged the party primaries losers to support the winning candidates saying they will be included in committees campaigning for him at different levels.

Notable was the reunion of Nyandarua Governor Francis Kimemia and former Water Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki who were angling for the Jubilee ticket in the governor race.

“That the party picked someone else does not mean you are not a great leader. I thank Ms Kariuki who was in a tough contest with Mr Kimemia and has agreed to back him. I promise that I shall have her in the national government once we get into office,” said Mr Odinga.

The CS indirectly declared her support for the governor stating that she would campaign for Jubilee and the Azimio presidential candidate.

She urged her supporters not to decamp to rival coalitions. “I had put structures in the party to campaign for myself and for the Jubilee Party. To ensure that this does not go to waste, the structures I had shall continue to drum up support for the party and Raila in Nyandarua,” said Ms Kariuki.