Stage set for titanic 2013 battle as Raila, Uhuru endorsed

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Prime Minister Raila Odinga finally got the nod to be the presidential candidate for the Coalition for Reform and Democracy (Cord) after Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka stepped down for him.

A huge crowd of ODM, Wiper Democratic Movement and Ford Kenya supporters witnessed the unveiling of Mr Odinga as the Cord candidate at Uhuru Park in Nairobi, clearing the way for the PM’s third attempt at the presidency.

Memories of the historic “Kibaki Tosha” rally of 2002 were replayed after Mr Musyoka told the cheering crowd that he was stepping down from the race to support and campaign for Mr Odinga.

The event cleared the way for a titanic political battle in the Kibaki succession pitting Mr Odinga and his deputy Uhuru Kenyatta, who will on Sunday be declared the Jubilee Alliance candidate ahead of the March 4 General Election.

The naming of the two candidates will present a great political shift, with main players in Mr Odinga’s 2007 campaign having defected to Mr Kenyatta’s team.

In the last election Eldoret North MP William Ruto, Mvita MP Najib Balala and Cabinet ministers Charity Ngilu and Joseph Nyaga were in ODM’s top team christened the Pentagon.

They have since ditched Mr Odinga for Mr Kenyatta.

The other Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Musalia Mudavadi, who also supported the PM, is in the presidential race through the United Democratic Forum.

Cord also unveiled a 14-member Summit bringing together leaders from different political parties and regions.

Businessman and media magnate Samuel K. Macharia was named to the Summit.

Trade minister Moses Wetang’ula’s Ford Kenya will produce the coalition’s Majority leaders in both the National Assembly and the Senate.

The WDM will also produce the Speaker of the Senate while ODM will retain the National Assembly Speaker’s position currently held by Mr Kenneth Marende, who has expressed his wish to retain it.

The Cord leaders had earlier met at the Serena, where they fine-tuned the deal and signed a power-sharing agreement.
After Mr Musyoka endorsed him, the Prime Minister addressed the wildly cheering crowd: “I, Raila Amolo Odinga, am asking you Kenyans to offer me a job as your President. So help me God.”

He thanked Mr Musyoka for the gesture, promising never to forget it.

“I want to thank my friend and brother Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka and Mr Moses Wetang’ula for their very patriotic decision. The two of them are gentlemen and the honour they have today showed by supporting me is too memorable to be forgotten,” Mr Odinga said.

He said a Cord government would focus on improving the economy, adding that mechanisms have been put in place to engineer a double digit economic growth after next year.

“Kenya was a stalled plane but under Kibaki we have re-engineered it and it is about to take off again. But a pilot is required and I have stepped in as the new pilot and I am ready to fly that plane,” Mr Odinga said.

He said that using the iron ore, coal, gas and oil resources now available in Kenya, he would lead the country into prosperity by creating jobs and driving the economy into 10 per cent growth.

NATIONAL AGENDA
  • ISSUE 1 - Job Creation
  • ISSUE 2 -Food Security
  • ISSUE 3 - Healthcare
  • ISSUE 4 - Education
  • ISSUE 5 - Energy
  • ISSUE 6 - Water & Environment
  • ISSUE 7 - Social Protection
  • ISSUE 8 - Public Infrastructure
  • ISSUE 9 - National Security & Foreign Policy
  • ISSUE 10 - Boosting Exports
  • ISSUE 11 - Devolution
  • ISSUE 12 - Ethnicity

The speakers at the rally called on Mr Mudavadi, whose stint in the Jubilee Alliance collapsed on Friday, to re-join the Cord team. Mr Musyoka led the call for unity with the UDF leader.

“I have chosen to put Kenya’s best interests first and, for the sake of unity, for the sake of national integration, for the sake of showing an example of forgiveness, healing and reconciliation, set aside my ambition for the presidency and support Raila Amollo Odinga for President of Kenya,” he said.

The VP, whose relationship with Mr Odinga had hit an all-time low after they parted ways in 2007, electrified the Cord crowd borrowing Mr Odinga’s words 10 years ago when he endorsed Mr Kibaki to declare “Raila anatosha!”

Mr Musyoka further promised to give Mr Odinga’s campaign his all and urged all Cord supporters to lend their support.

“I want to tell you that I will campaign like I have never done before. I will do so because of the future of this country, the future of our children and the future children,” he declared.

Mr Wetang’ula said they had come together to make sure that the country gets the leadership it deserves.

“We have come together to tell you, fellow Kenyans, that we have faith and we are determined that, with Raila Odinga as our captain, we are winning,” he said.

About 70 MPs attended the rally which was also addressed by Cabinet ministers Fred Gumo, Henry Kosgey, Noah Wekesa, Dalmas Otieno, Wyclife Oparanya, Mutula Kilonzo, Amason Kingi, Ababu Namwamba, William Ntimama, John Munyes, Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim and assistant ministers David Musila, Dr Wilfred Machage and Mohammed Sugow.