Raila condemns violence, scoffs at calls to retire

Opposition leader Raila Odinga  Photo:Courtesy

Opposition leader Raila Odinga has condemned the violence that led to deaths and destruction of property in Dagoretti North constituency.

Speaking at a rally in Kawangware, Nairobi, after attending a church service at Gatina PAG Church, Raila claimed their Jubilee rivals had hired goons from an outlawed sect to cause violence in the area.

"I come here to condole with the families of those who lost their relatives in the violence. Kenya cannot be ruled by the barrel of a gun, which is the greatest sin of impunity. It’s unfortunate to hire goons to cause violence. We are aware of ethnic profiling in this country,” Raila said.

The Opposition leader also dismissed calls by his rivals in Jubilee Party for him to retire from politics, saying he would not be forced by Jubilee leaders to do so.

NO BASIS

Raila said political transition could not be determined by age and those in Jubilee asking him to retire from politics because of his age had no basis to do so.

“I want to tell my rivals in Jubilee that it’s not age that is a determinant factor in leadership of this country. Good governance of a State cannot be determined by how old you are. You must have great wisdom and leadership qualities to propel people’s agendas,” Raila said.

Raila said he would not be dictated to by his rival in Jubilee on when to quit politics, reiterating that he would exercise his own discretion on when to quit.

Flanked by NASA legislators among them Milly Odhiambo (Suba North), Esther Passaris (Nairobi Woman Representative), George Aladwa (Makadara),  Gladys Wanga (Homa Bay Woman Representative) and MCAs, Raila also took issue with the alleged use of force by security forces against civilians.

"Kenyans cannot be ruled in a militarised manner. We cannot use the gun to force leadership on the people. Police have been combing houses of innocent civilians and shooting innocent youths to force them to vote," Raila claimed.

He also lauded the boycott of the repeat presidential election by a section of the public on October 26 and claimed only 20 per cent of Kenyans participated in the repeat poll.

Besides Uhuru, other candidates in the repeat poll were Third Way Alliance's Ekuru Aukot, Cyrus Jirongo (United Democratic Party), Abduba Dida (Alliance for Real Change), and independents Michael Wainaina, Joseph Nyaga and Japheth Kavinga.

“We asked NASA supporters not to participate in a shambolic election and they never voted. We observed that 80 per cent of our supporters did not vote. The election is solely between 'Uhuru and Kenyatta' which has taken too long to declare the winner,” he said.

He added: “It’s shameful that the election has taken three days without declaring the winner even when they had no major competitor. What they are doing now at Bomas of Kenya is cooking figures.”

Raila said the KIEMS kit indicated that about 3.5 million Jubilee supporters voted but the figures being announced at Bomas by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) had surpassed the actual number of people that participated in the election by more than 7 million votes.

He claimed President Uhuru Kenyatta was now competing against the voter turnout, adding that the truth had come out.

The Opposition leader accused the Jubilee administration of leading a coup in the Judiciary and interfering with key constitutional institutions.

Ms Passaris accused the police of killing NASA supporters and claimed some uniformed outlawed gang members had infiltrated the police force.

WAY FORWARD

And Ms Odhiambo appealed to First Lady Margaret Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto's wife Rachael Ruto, to ask the President K and his DP to restrain police from killing NASA youths in Migori, Homa Bay, Siaya, Nairobi and Kisumu counties.

Raila maintained NASA's journey to Canaan was still on course and was unstoppable, adding that he would make a major announcement today on the Opposition's way forward.