Raila: No surrender, no turning back in the fight for electoral justice

NASA leader Raila Odinga has said when times are tough and uncertain, when everything Kenyans fought for and the gains made are threatened, Kenyans look to ODM for direction and leadership.

Raila said the tides are rough but there is no turning back in the fight for electoral justice in Kenya, adding that to meet the great expectations of NASA supporters and the country, ODM must have a complete and functioning team that is also equal to the task ahead.

“We have just come out of one of the toughest election battles in our history that tested our capacity beyond limits as a party and a nation. The election produced one of the strangest results; the lowest voter turnout in our history too. We are grateful to you and the thousands of people in every part of this country and across the world who worked so hard to ensure we mounted a formidable campaign against which our rivals could only rig and do so blatantly,” Raila said on Friday while addressing the ODM governing council meeting at the Orange House, Nairobi.

He said the party is mounting a formidable challenge to the culture of sham, stolen elections with predetermined outcomes in the country.

“What has gone on since August 8 and the sham repeat election of October 26th; the crackdown on the media, civil society, Judiciary and NASA leaders have left no doubt that a dictatorship is raising its head again,” he said.

The ODM leader emphasized that events of the last few months have prepared the party for what lies ahead and informed the kind of team, policies and programmes that must put in place.

“We are up against a malevolent dictatorship. A house divided, a party going for half measures, a party with no big screen view of the challenges and opportunities will not win the battle against the dictatorship. Yet win we must. The stakes have never been higher. The threat to our nationhood has never been more real. Luckily, there is a heightened awareness that now, more than ever, we must succeed.”