I’ll run for top seat in 2017, says Raila

PHOTO | MACHARIA MWANGI | FILE Cord leader Raila Odinga arrives for the alliance’s retreat at the Great Rift Valley Lodge in Naivasha on April 14, 2013.

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Sunday broke his silence over the 2017 elections and declared he would take a fourth stab at the presidency.

The Cord leader assured supporters he would be on the ballot paper, contrary to perceptions by critics he is already out of active politics.

Mr Odinga, who spoke at the family cemetery of freedom fighter Ojijo Oteko at Kanjira in Rachuonyo North, was urged by residents to stay in politics.

Earlier during a fund-raiser at Adhiro Secondary School, which was renamed Ojijo Oteko Memorial High School, Siaya Senator James Orengo maintained that Mr Odinga was not going to abandon active politics.

“Why are they preoccupied with Raila’s age now when they are aware of the ages the late Kenyatta and retired presidents Moi and Kibaki were when they took office?” he said

For the second day in a row, Mr Orengo and MPs Gladys Wanga, John Mbadi, Silvance Osele and George Oner maintained that Cord won the March 4 polls.

The lawmakers reiterated that they had lost faith in the polls team and urged all commissioners to pack up and leave before it is too late.

“Let the current IEBC commissioners pack up and go home because we will do everything to see them leave. If we managed to send the late Samwel Kivuitu and his team home, who are the current commissioners?” said Mr Orengo. The leaders once again predicted the collapse of the Jubilee government within two years.

Mr Odinga urged Kenyans not to allow the current government to frustrate devolution, saying it is their only hope.

He urged the government to put infrastructure in place before rolling out the primary schools laptop project.