Uhuru dares Raila to pull out of repeat poll
What you need to know:
- President Kenyatta said Mr Odinga was using a number of issues as excuses to avoid the October 26 poll.
- He said the Jubilee Party would go on with its campaigns and was planning to use a door-to-door approach.
Nasa candidate Raila Odinga plans to pull out of the repeat presidential election, President Uhuru Kenyatta has said.
The President challenged Mr Odinga to quit the race if he is not interested, saying Kenyans want the issue of elections done away with once and for all.
“Kenyans are tired and want to move forward. If he (Mr Odinga) does not want elections, he should keep off and let the country move forward.
“We don’t want continued confusion and fighting. Kenyans want development. They want to unite to end poverty,” President Kenyatta, who is on a three-day tour of the Coast, said in Mombasa on Monday.
NASA'S DEMANDS
He was addressing Coast leaders at Serani Primary School in Mombasa where former Taita-Taveta Governor John Mruttu announced he would support his re-election bid.
He said Mr Odinga was using a number of issues as excuses to avoid the October 26 poll.
The Head of State said the National Super Alliance’s demands such as changes in the electoral commission and a new printer for the presidential ballot papers, claims of Safaricom’s involvement in irregularities in the August polls and attacks on Parliament show that Mr Odinga does not want to participate in the repeat poll.
“We now hear that he wants to announce that he has withdrawn from the race. We don’t know the reasons he will give as he always has excuses.
“The Supreme Court declared that we repeat the poll and we are ready for it. But our competitor has issues with everything,” the President said, adding that about Sh12 billion had been set aside for the election and that Kenyans were ready for it.
DEFECTORS
He said the Jubilee Party would go on with its campaigns and was planning to use a door-to-door approach.
He reiterated that he beat Mr Odinga hands down in the August election and that if the ballot papers could be recounted, he would be vindicated.
Mr Kenyatta said he did not have “time and space” to continue engaging Mr Odinga in an exchange of words regarding the poll.
President Kenyatta welcomed Mr Mruttu and Mr Hassan Omar, who lost the Mombasa governorship race, to Jubilee and promised to work with them to continue developing the country.
POWER-SHARING
He promised jobs to those who lost in the August 8 elections.
Deputy President William Ruto said the Jubilee administration will not accept sharing power with Nasa.
“A power-sharing government is unconstitutional. What we want is for Kenyans to decide through the ballot,” Mr Ruto said.
The DP accused Mr Odinga of seeking to make the country ungovernable to compel the formation of a power-sharing government.
He added: “Bloodshed and chaos are not an option in our country. If you are democratic, then we want to meet you at the ballot box. Kenyans are not interested with the demos.”
ACHIEVEMENTS
Mr Mruttu, who vied for the Taita-Taveta governor seat as an independent after ditching ODM but lost to Wiper’s Granton Samboja, campaigned for President Kenyatta.
He said problems facing the Coast are historical, adding that President Kenyatta and Mr Ruto were addressing them.
Mr Mruttu cited road and education improvements as some of the Jubilee administration’s achievements.
Mr Omar, who was the Mombasa senator, reiterated his support for President Kenyatta’s re-election.
SUPPORTERS
He praised the President and the DP for engaging in issue-based politics, adding that the Coast was lagging behind in development due to the “calibre of leaders who were elected” in the region.
Mr Omar’s entry into Jubilee, however, seems to have unsettled some of Mombasa’s Jubilee bigwigs, including businessman Suleiman Shahbal, who now appear sidelined.
Cabinet ministers Dan Kazungu and Najib Balala also vouched for President Kenyatta to win a second term.
