Raila to launch presidential bid under Azimio at Thika grounds

ODM leader Raila Odinga celebrated his 77th birthday with Azimio Young Turks at Bomas of Kenya Nairobi. [Emmanuel Wanson, Standard]

ODM leader Raila Odinga will tomorrow symbolically launch his presidential bid under the Azimio la Umoja Movement banner at the town where he ditched his father's Ford-Kenya party in 1995.

After the death of his father - opposition leader Oginga Odinga - Raila challenged Kijana Wamalwa for the leadership of the Lion party, leading to a bitter struggle. The fight sucked in retired Anglican Archbishop Manasses Kuria who volunteered to chair a National Delegates Congress (NDC) to break the stalemate.

What followed was a day of chaos and a person at the centre of the violent drama that erupted when Archbishop Kuria gave up the mission and walked out recalls it almost ended in blood bath.

Enthusiastic Ford-Kenya supporters with eshiriri, orutu, gongs and whistles had taken over Thika town that day. They had been moving between the stadium which is right at the heart of the town and Starehe Gardens in song and dance.

One of the unforgettable scenes from this meeting is that of Raila cowering between a cleric and another youth amid sounds of gunfire, exploding tear gas canisters and cries from injured delegates.

The Standard team in 2019 identified the cleric as the Rev George Okoth Otura, a young evangelist who doubled up as a civil right activist. Otura jumped onto Raila and with the help of another youth, Martin Otieno alias Oti, forced him onto the ground in a desperate bid to shield him from the flying bullets.

Vanquished by Wamalwa, Raila would quit the Lion party, relinquishing his Langata parliamentary seat, which he would later recapture in a by-election on a National Development Party (NDP) ticket. The symbol of NDP was a tractor that bequeathed him the nickname "Tinga."

The opposition politician remains the only politician to have immediately quit his party -since the return to multi party democracy in 1991- after differing with the leadership and seeking fresh mandate.

This time Raila will not be cowering from bullets and teargas at Thika Municipal Stadium but lots of admiration from a formerly lukewarm backyard that has in the recent past warmed up to his fifth stab at the presidency.

According to sources, the rally in Thika that has always been Uhuru Kenyatta's home town is not only symbolic but telling if only one looked at those behind it.

The host, Kiambu Governor James Nyoro said two meetings will take place on Saturday - a town hall meeting between the Orange party leader and 1,000 Kiambu leaders representing political, women, youth, PWD and business community and then the public rally at the stadium.

"This meeting will address the local issues to do with representation, revenue sharing, completing the Uhuru legacy projects and the welfare and well being of our people," said Dr Nyoro. "Baba will also have a chance to say what Azimio stands for and why it is the best for our people."

The governor would not reveal where the town hall meeting will take place but sources said it will be at a dome set up at the Mt Kenya University graduation pavilion near the 12 Engineering Battalion on the East of Thika.

Nyoro said the meetings are being funded under a minimal budget sourced from the Azimio campaign secretariat.

Laikipia Governor Ndiritu Muriithi, recently appointed the chairman of the Raila campaign team, said the meeting is organised by the Kiambu and Thika leadership.

"Although we expect attendance from across the Mt Kenya region, the Kiambu leadership has organised this meeting and they will obviously have the largest number of those who will grace it," said Mr Muriithi. 

The governors could only speak of the organising committee being lead by Nyoro but other sources said the main committee comprises of the Kiambu county boss, President Uhuru Kenyatta's uncle George Muhoho and Kariuki Nginyo, the oldest son of the late ally of Raila, the Kiambu businessman Nginyo Kariuki.

"We expect a rally in the realms of Kibaki Tosha that was held at Uhuru Park in 2002," said Muriithi, adding that the main difference was that the Azimio coalition presidential candidate was not in doubt.

The Laikipia governor who expects all his Mt Kenya counterparts to attend the rally said he sees it as the start of a nationalistic coalition under Azimio similar to the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) that swept Kibaki to power in 2012.

Mt Kenya Youth Caucus chairman Linford Mutembei said the Thika meeting will be a key date to watch in "Raila's unstoppable" march to State House.

"We expect a lethal cast of political prayers to be present in a huge meeting and we expect it to be the turning point of the Azimio acceptability in the mountain region," said Mr Mutembei, one of the key leaders involved in the mobilisation for the rally.

The Mt Kenya Youth Caucus chairman and ODM Kiambu politician Charles "CN" Mbugua" separately said the rally was the follow up to consultations between Raila frontmen and the region, which happened twice at Lusoi resort in Nyeri and at Kabiru-ini showground on November 26, last year.

The youth leader said the public rally will be insulated from local politics which will be dealt with at future engagements.

"This will be the rally in which Baba will officially be introduced and formally ask the mountain for its support in his presidential bid," said Mutembei.

Political commentator Prof Peter Kagwanja said the significance of the rally at Thika is mostly because it is the de facto headquarters of the Southern Kikuyu in Murang'a and Kiambu and its diaspora in Nyandarua, Nakuru, Nairobi, Machakos and Ngong.

"His campaign knows the symbolism and connection to this town. This is the stadium where he had that tiff with Wamalwa and also it is the stadium where Jomo Kenyatta held his first rally after release from detention. With Ruringú, Kinoru (in Meru) and Kirigiti in Kiambu, these are the main stadiums and political arena in Mt Kenya," said Prof Kagwanja.

Nyoro said Kirigiti had been ruled out of hosting the meeting because it was still under construction. All Mt Kenya governors have been invited to the rally with the exception of Anne Waiguru (Kirinyaga) who is in Deputy President William Ruto's camp and Mutahi Kahiga (Nyeri) who is still sitting on the fence.