Raila woos Kisii residents

Cord leader Raila Odinga makes his way to Gusii stadium on October 15, 2016. He asked the residents to vote for Cord. PHOTO | BENSON MOMANYI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • He said the Gusii community is not for sale and their attempts to sway voters to their side will not bear fruit.
  • He insisted that Kenyans were entitled to development as per the new constitution and leaders should not beg for it.

Cord leader Raila Odinga scoffed at Jubilee top administration on their frequent visits to Kisii region saying the Gusii community will not vote for them.

He said the Gusii community is not for sale and their attempts to sway voters to their side will not bear fruit.

Mr Odinga accused Jubilee administration of making empty promises of development.

"This government is like a crafty person luring a chicken to the slaughter by making lots of sweet promises. After it achieves its objective, those promises will never see the light of day," he said.

He further said that the invitation of members of the county assemblies of Kisii and Nyamira Counties to State House in August was not in the interest of development but for selfish reasons.

“Those visiting State House in the name of development are doing it for their own selfish needs. They are greedy,” he said.

He insisted that Kenyans were entitled to development as per the new constitution and leaders should not beg for it.

He also took the opportunity to further discredit the Murang'a Water Tunnel Project saying it would irreparably damage the country's environment.

He said that as a national leader he can comment on any issue affecting Kenyans.

"Murang'a is part of Kenya and I have a right to speak on any issue in any part of the country. The Murang'a people's concerns must be addressed," he said.

Mr Odinga asked voters in the region to support the Cord coalition, saying it was the only outfit capable of rescuing the country from its economic woes.

He called on Kisii County residents to register as voters and remove the Jubilee administration come 2017.

"I urge you to register in large numbers as voters during the next mass voter registration exercise," Mr Odinga said.

He expressed confidence in winning the next elections.

CORD PEOPLE

The opposition leader was speaking on arrival at the Kisii Sports Club where he briefly addressed Cord supporters before heading to Gusii Stadium for the third edition of Kikao Youth Forum.

Mr Odinga was welcomed by Kisii Governor James Ongwae and Kitutu Masaba MP Timothy Bosire, among others.

Governor Ongwae expressed confidence that Mr Odinga will in 2017.

"I am sure that our next President after 2017 elections is Raila," he said.

He said his administration is committed to empowering the youth through the training of instructors.

"We have a programme in conjunction with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to train our instructors in order to empower our young people in entrepreneurship skills," Governor Ongwae said.

Similarly, Nyamira Governor John Nyagarama said Kisii is a Cord zone and they will vote for Mr Odinga in the next polls.

“Nyamira is a Cord zone. We welcome the Kikao Forum to our county,” he said.