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ODM party leader has wooed people from Central Kenya reminding them how he campaigned for the Former President Mwai Kibaki.
In his speech in Kirinyaga during the Mashujaa Day celebration, Raila launched into what has become an Offensive in Mt Kenya ahead of 2022 showdown with the DP who was seen as having mad a considerable headway in the region.
The former Prime Minister assured the people of the region that he has always been with them reminiscing the 2022 presidential contest when critics allegedly opined that his political career was over after he endorsed Kibaki.
According to Odinga, Kibaki’s eventual victory in the polls, boosted by over 90% of votes from the ODM chief’s Nyanza backyard, proved that Kenyans are capable of rising and voting beyond tribal lines.
He hence cited the retired former president as one of his foremost heroes today, calling for him to be appreciated and celebrated nationwide.
He also stated that it was his father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga who took Kibaki to school and later made him a leader in KANU, further propagating his point that the two communities have always been united in some way.
“My hero, the former president Mwai Kibaki, must be celebrated as a hero in this country. When I said Kibaki tosha, they said
‘Raila is finished politically, no Luo can vote for a Kikuyu because of what happened to Tom Mboya and Jaramogi.’ I went and told the Luos that it has never been a war between Kikuyus and Luos, that Kikuyus and Luos have been partners in the struggle for independence in this country, that it is Jaramogi who said Kenyatta must be the leader of this country, and Kibaki is a son of Jaramogi who took him to Makerere and brought him to Kenya and made him the Chief Executive Officer of KANU,” he said.
“But then Kibaki got an accident and could not campaign, we campaigned for Kibaki while he was on a wheelchair, and everywhere the people were saying ‘Raila ni mutongoria jamba’ (Raila is a brave leader). The Luos voted Mwai Kibaki 98.5%, showing that this tribalism thing is a skin thing. So Raila Odinga is a friend of the mountain, and has been able to climb the mountain.”
Odinga, in his speech, recognized leaders he termed as heroes from the region among them Bishop David Gitari, authors Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Micere Mugo, Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai and second liberation heroes Ken Matiba and Charles Rubia.
He also mentioned human rights activist Rev. Timothy Njoya, first woman Chief Justice Martha Koome, Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua, and Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru.
“Recently, I visited Mukami Kimathi, and she sends her greetings to this audience, she says she’s unable to come and join in these celebrations because she’s ailing from some of the wounds inflicted during her detention in Kamiti, where she was also a guest together with Mama Ngina Kenyatta; not many people know that Mama Ngina Kenyatta was also a political detainee in those days,” he said.