Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has revived plans to have former Prime Minister Raila Odinga retire from active politics.
The second in command on Friday, August 18, said he will ensure that the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition leader is registered so that he can be receiving his KSh 2,000 monthly stipends for the elderly.
“President Ruto has ordered that all people older than 70 years be registered to start receiving their monthly stipend. I have ordered the PS to register Raila so that he can be receiving his KSh 2,000 per month and rest,” Gachagua said in his closing remarks for the 2023 Devolution Conference in Eldoret.
Constitutionally, Kenyans aged 70 years and above are entitled to a KSh 2k monthly stipend dubbed “Pesa ya Wazee.”
The veteran politician who was born in 1945 marked his 78th Birthday on January 7, 2023.
In March 2023, the second in command said he will only engage the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya leader if the agenda is to discuss his retirement from Kenya’s political space.
But Raila who unsuccessfully vied for the presidency in the hotly contested 2022 elections is on record dismissing calls asking him to retire.
Raila argued that many of the politicians who called for his quit from active politics are not aware of what transpired in the presidential election on August 9.
“There are people who keep on telling me to go back to Bondo. Don’t give them your ears because they don’t understand that I know the road leading to Bondo better than they do,” Raila said.
In what clearly shows that he is not ready to exit active politics, the country’s longest-serving opposition leader further hinted at giving a sixth stab at the presidency.
“I’m not tired, do you see me giving up? Do you want me to continue?” he told his supporters.
