Ex-PM also expected to promote his newly-launched book ‘The Flame of Freedom’

By STANDARD REPORTER

NAIROBI, KENYA: Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Friday departs for a two-week trip to the US today together with six governors.

Odinga will leave the country in the company of Ali Hassan Joho of Mombasa, Wycliffe Oparanya (Kakamega), Nathif Jama (Garissa), Ahmed Abdullahi (Wajir), Ukur Yatani (Marsabit) and Josephat Nanok (Turkana).

This will the second visit to the US by the former PM after an earlier one in July when he travelled with ten CORD Coalition-allied governors to meet prospective investors. Mr Nanok was also in the first trip.

Among other things, the former PM will promote his newly launched book, ‘The Flame of Freedom’.
His itinerary shows that he will make stops in Washington and Minnesota.

Dennis Onyango, Odinga’s spokesman, said the CORD leader would take the governors to meet their counterparts and business executives in the US and attend the Emerging Markets Forum.

The conference on emerging economies will begin tomorrow in Washington, DC.
Odinga used his last visit to pursuade US investors to support Kenya’s devolved units by directing their investments to various counties saying this would ensure equitable economic growth and create jobs opportunities.

“Governors are at the frontline of our dreams for an equitable society where development opportunities are evenly spread across the country. They (governors) were the most prominent symbols of the new order we are trying to create in Kenya,” he said.

A tentative programme indicates the former PM will launch his biography on Tuesday at the School of Advanced International Studies, in partnership with the Centre for Strategic International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC.

In Minnesota, Odinga will sign his book at the Hubert H Humphrey School of Public Policy and Affairs at the University of Minnesota.