Unite or be ruled forever, Raila Odinga to Azimio MPs

Azimio la Umoja One-Kenya leader Raila Odinga. [Denish Ochieng,Standard]

Azimio la Umoja One-Kenya leader Raila Odinga has asked Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua to allow investigative agencies do their work without interference by the Executive.

Speaking at Athi River in Machakos County during an Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya parliamentary group meeting, Odinga said Gachagua would be encouraging dictatorship by calling for absolute protection of governors from oversight and investigation.

Gachagua had, during the opening of the governors' induction seminar in Mombasa on Thursday, September 15, warned the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) against weaponising the war on graft.

The deputy president assured the new governors that the William Ruto administration will protect them against "harassment" by the DCI.

"The level of extortion by detectives pretending to be fighting graft, whereas they were just extorting money from governors and [government] officials, is a thing of the past," Gachagua told governors in Mombasa on Thursday.

Odinga now says Gachagua's remarks smacked of a public officer who is bent on evading the rule of law.

"This (Gachagua's remarks in Mombasa) is how dictatorship is born and we have to respond to what is shaping up with a sense of urgency and alarm," Odinga told Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya affiliated MPs.

The Azimio chief asked the lawmakers to remain united in the bicameral House, warning that disintegration would mark the beginning of their downfall and Kenya's regression.

"Parliament must say no to attempts by a rogue Executive that is out to intimidate and profile civil servants and security agencies," said Odinga.

The former prime minister said if the Executive goes to bed with the Legislature and the Judiciary, then Kenyans won't have anywhere else to seek justice and protection from the ruling elite's excesses.

"If you (legislators) do not unite, you are going to be ruled throughout the life of Parliament and yet we have the numbers and strength to be able to be rulers in the House," he said.

"We must not sit back and watch as political control is being extorted over the Judiciary, Prosecution, Civil Service, Police and Election management body."

Odinga also said that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) needed overhaul, claiming it oversaw unfair polls on August 9, 2022.