Raila, Kalonzo in foreign trip, aides won't say where and for how long

Raila Odinga (left) is out of the country with Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka. [Dennis Kavisu, Standard]

Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition presidential candidate Raila Odinga is out of the country and his handlers did not say where he had gone.

Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, Raila’s nominee for chief cabinet secretary, is also with the former prime minister. Kalonzo is Kenya’s Special Peace Envoy to South Sudan.

Raila had spoken of the trip during the burial of Stella Memusi, wife of Kajiado Central MP Kanchory Memusi, on Tuesday.

While addressing mourners, the ODM leader thanked the lawmaker for rescheduling his wife’s burial. “The burial was meant for Thursday. I told him that I will be out of the country on Thursday as I would be jetting out tomorrow,” Raila said.

Yesterday, Dennis Onsarigo, the press secretary of Raila’s campaign secretariat, confirmed that the former prime minister was away. He, however, did not give details of where he would be and for how long.

Our efforts to contact Raila's and Kalonzo’s allies were unsuccessful.

We could not reach his campaign team's spokesperson Makau Mutua and Makueni MP Dan Maanzo on phone.

His trip comes 60 days before the General Election, one billed to be a contest between him and Deputy President William Ruto.

Before his trip, Raila held rallies in Nairobi and Nakuru after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) cleared him and his running mate Martha Karua as candidates in the August 9 elections.

President Uhuru Kenyatta also flew to Mogadishu yesterday for the inauguration of new Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.