Kenya: Raila Odinga to launch the fifth bid for the top job with president’s backing

Last updated on December 11th, 2021 at 08:00 am

Kenya – Former Prime Minister of Kenya, Raila Odinga launches his fifth bid for the presidency on Friday. President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta is supporting him this time. Voters in East Africa’s biggest economy are due to go to the polls in August. However, Uhuru Kenyatta will not be on the ballot this time because of the constitutional term limit of two, five-year terms.

Raila Odinga served as the Prime Minister of Kenya from 2008 to 2013. His last three runs for office in 2007, 2013, and 2017 were marked by high drama. Reportedly, his supporters protested at the outcomes of the votes. His party won a majority in the 2007 legislative election.

The provisional results of the presidential election also indicated that Odinga would win the election. However, when the final election results were announced, Mwai Kibaki was declared the Prime Minister. He won by a narrow margin. Odinga also said that his victories were stolen. Widespread protests started throughout the country questioning the outcome of the final result. Many people were killed and more than 600,000 were displaced in the election’s violent aftermath.

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Again in 2017, Uhuru Kenyatta was declared as the President in the final result. Raila Odinga finished second in the final voting. The IEBC (Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission) announced that Kenyatta won the election with more than 54 percent of the vote. However, Odinga said that the presidential election had been manipulated. In 2018, however, Odinga made peace with Uhuru Kenyatta.

Since then, they have been working together in Parliament. After making peace with Kenyatta, he sidelined Kenyatta’s Deputy William Ruto, who has been vocal about his personal presidential ambitions. Subsequently, President Kenyatta urged people from his personal populous Kikuyu ethnic group not to assist William Ruto. He fought alongside Odinga in the 2007 election when police crackdown on protesters.