Raila gives Uhuru a ‘pass’ for work

Cord leader Raila Odinga has given Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee administration a reluctant ‘pass’ in the way it has handled government business in its one year in office.

Mr Odinga told Jambo Boston Radio, an online radio station in Lowell, Massachusetts, that in his opinion, the Jubilee Government gets a five in a scale of 10 mainly for its acknowledgement that times are hard for Kenyans.

“I’ll give them a five because at least they have acknowledged that the country is going through hard times. To acknowledge the existence of a problem is the first but very important step towards solving the problem,” he told radio host Kimani Wanguhu.

Mr Odinga said the Jubilee Government had failed to rein in insecurity and corruption - some of the evils that are contributing to poverty.

The former prime minister, who is in Boston attending a month-long residency lecture series at the African Presidential Center of Boston University, Massachusetts, said it was not enough to cut salaries. “We need a comprehensive strategy to deal with the issue of a ballooning wage bill. Cutting salaries alone won’t amount to much without seriously tackling wastage and corruption,” he said.

On the aborted ODM elections, Mr Odinga acknowledged that some of the so-called ‘men in black’ were the security agents ODM hired. “There is a possibility that some of the people who disrupted the elections were infiltrators from ‘outside’.”
He dismissed as a Kanu era practice the defection to Jubilee of seasoned politician William ole Ntimama.

“Defections ended with Kanu. What is going on in Narok is Mr Ntimama and other local leaders trying to find a better way of serving the people of Narok,” he said.