Ford-P candidates vow to support Raila

By Robert Nyasato

They say decision was informed by assessing voters who are set to support the PM

Ford People candidates in Kisii have vowed to support CORD presidential flagbearer, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, in the General Election.

Before they made the move, the party leadership had tried in vain to form a pre-election pact with Jubilee alliance.

Leading the declaration, former Kitutu Masaba MP Mwancha Okioma, who is running for the Nyamira County gubernatorial seat, said his move was informed by a careful study of the electorate’s prevailing mood.

“It is clear people are set to support the Premier this time round and as leaders we can’t just sit on the fence but lead from the front,” Okioma, who has named Engineer Makori Bikundo his running mate, said.

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To make his point clear, Okioma has printed campaign posters bearing his picture together with that of Raila, which are in circulation.

Ford People Secretary General Albert Nyaundi, who vying for Bomachoge Borabu parliamentary seat, will also back Raila in the coming polls.

“I have assessed the mood on the ground and it is clear the people want Raila as their next president,” Nyaundi told The Standard but added the decision was personal and had nothing to do with his party position.

Elsewhere, former Kisii mayor Samuel Omwando who bolted out of ODM after what he termed as botched nominations in Kitutu Chache South said he would campaign for the PM as he pushes to capture the seat on a Ford People ticket.

Pre-election deal

“I had done a lot to popularise the orange party as its sub branch chair but I was robbed of the ticket. I wish to soldier on to canvass votes for the Premier,” he said.

Omwando will face Foreign Affairs assistant minister Richard Onyonka who clinched the ODM ticket and PDP ?s Don Bosco Gichana.

Chairman of the Omogusii flagship party, Mr Henry Obwocha, said Ford People candidates were free to support a presidential candidate of their choice.

“As a party we are not officially in the pre-election arrangement but have allowed our candidates to support whoever they deem fit,” Obwocha, who is running for the Nyamira County senate position, clarified.

Ford People is associated with former Cabinet minister Simeon Nyachae who unsuccessfully sought presidency on it in 2002 but managed to have all the then ten MPs elected on the party’s ticket.

Both Raila and Jubilee presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta have been campaigning to take control of the Kisii region.