Pete Ondeng: Why I dropped out of presidential race
Pete Ondeng, who has offered to be presidential candidate Joe Nyagah's strategy and policy adviser. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP.
A presidential aspirant has shelved his ambition and chosen to endorse the candidacy of former Cabinet minister Joe Nyagah.
Pete Ondeng, who on May 2 announced that he would contest the presidency on the Restore and Build Kenya (RBK) ticket, says he dropped out of the race because “the field is crowded”.
18 CANDIDATES
“We cannot have 18 candidates,” he told the Nation on Monday, adding that more aspirants should “coalesce around individuals.”
He said his decision followed lengthy talks with Mr Nyagah where he offered to serve as the independent candidate's strategy and policy adviser.
Mr Nyagah, who was a cooperative development and marketing minister in the 2007 coalition government, will officially announce his bid on Wednesday.
Though he has stepped down, Mr Ondeng said, he was still keen to see Kenya transformed.
“I did not join the race for personal interests… I entered the race because I wanted to see change,” he said.
'RESPECTED'
He declared his endorsement of Mr Nyagah as the most ideal candidate to provide millions of frustrated Kenyans with alternative leadership.
“Nyaga represents a thinking that is free of tribe... He stood his ground when the country was burning in 2007,”
Mr Ondeng said in reference to Mr Nyagah’s support for the opposition Orange Democratic Movement and its leader Raila Odinga during the contested presidential election as his tribesmen stood behind Mwai Kibaki.
Mr Nyagah, he added, is also respected and experienced in government and politics, having served as a Cabinet minister.
'BROKEN'
The former minister, according to Mr Ondeng, has what it takes to challenge the two dominant political groupings — the Jubilee Party and the National Super Alliance Coalition (Nasa).
“Many Kenyan voters are choosing to disconnect from politics and are so sick of being lied to that they would rather not participate in the country’s political process at all,” he said.
Mr Ondeng also said that though Kenya’s political system is broken, there is still a chance to fix it for the better.
“It can be fixed if concerned Kenyans from across the political divide can come together to restore integrity and public confidence in the country’s leadership and institutions of governance,” he said.
