You have betrayed the Luhya, Wetang’ula party tells Raila

Ford Kenya leaders have accused Opposition leader Raila Odinga of betraying the Luhya community and its leaders.

The party’s Bungoma branch officials and MCAs accused Raila of perennially targeting the community’s leaders once things do not go his way.

Branch Secretary General Peter Wakhuleka said Raila was fond of trying to destabilising any Luhya leader rising up the political ladder

Wakhuleka said the recent attempt to remove Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula as Minority Leader and replace him his Siaya counterpart, James Orengo was a testimony of how ungrateful the opposition leader was.

“We are taking issue with the way Odinga is fond of treating Luhya leaders. We are not happy with the way he is taking our leaders for a ride. The way he is treating Senator Wetang’ula is unacceptable,” he said.

Wakhuleka said this latest incident was a clear indicator that the opposition leader did not value the Luhya community’s support.

He said the community had stood by Raila even after scuttling the ambition of many politicians in the area and it was time the community made their stand known.

Wakhuleka said Raila abandoned Ford Kenya and formed NDP when he was defeated by Kijana Wamalwa in the party elections thus scuttling Wamalwa’s presidential bid.

“What he did to Wamalwa when he broke away from Ford Kenya was in bad taste and this cost Wamalwa the presidency as he was popular at the time,” he said.

Bungoma County Assembly Majority Leader, Florence Wekesa, said the community had supported Raila and his father Jaramogi severally and demanded respect.

Wekesa said it was time the community made a bold statement and supported one of their own instead of supporting ungrateful leaders.

“We have supported Raila severally at the expense of our own leader and this is how he repays us. We now want to make our own statement by rallying behind one of our own and let them seek for support elsewhere,” she said.

County Assembly Deputy Minority Whip, Luke Opwora, said that Raila shoud come out clearly and state whether the opposition coalition, NASA, is over instead of targeting leaders.

“We are asking Raila to state clearly whether there is a divorce or not and not hide under sideshows by targeting leaders. We need to know so that we can make our decisions effectively,” he said.