Political commentator Gordon Opiyo has said that the Kikuyu nation will never vote for ODM leader Raila Odinga as the race for the State House gains momentum ahead of the 2022 elections.
In a long Facebook post, Opiyo who airs his witty and piercing political opinions and commentaries on his social media platforms argued that the Kikuyu nation can vote for someone else from the Nyanza region but not Raila Odinga.
“Fact is this. The Kikuyu nation will never vote Raila (Odinga)… Maybe another person from Nyanza, but not Raila Odinga, son of Jaramogi Odinga,” he said.
According to him, it is so ironic for President Uhuru Kenyatta to say that the former Prime Minister is the best person to succeed him when his family spent billions of shillings to tarnish the image of the Odinga family.
“You can’t demonise someone (Odinga’s) for 50 years, then wake up one morning and say Raila is an angel. It does not work that way,” he added.
Opiyo further argued that Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto is more popular in the Mt Kenya region than his formidable competitor Raila Odinga.
He opines that the arrogance of President Uhuru Kenyatta and some few billionaires in the Kikuyu nation have seen the Jubilee party sink beyond irredeemable levels, something that has made William Ruto popular in the region.
“The arrogance of Uhuru and fellow Kikuyu Billionaires is what has made Ruto Popular. Just because you have money, you cannot do as you wish,” he said.
On Monday, September 27, a section of Mt Kenya governors announced plans to market Raila Odinga in the region ahead of the 2022 presidential elections.
The governors including Nderitu Muriithi (Laikipia), Lee Kinyanjui (Nakuru), James Nyoro (Kiambu), and Francis Kimemia (Nyandarua) agreed to reach out to all other elected leaders in the region to help them popularise the former premier.
Raila Odinga has been camping in the Mt Kenya region, like several other presidential hopefuls, in the hope of winning the hearts of the electorate from there as he seeks to take a fifth stab at the presidency.
Musalia Mudavadi and William Ruto are the two other presidential candidates who have made endless trips to Mt Kenya, a region likely not to produce a serious presidential candidate for the first time since multi-party democracy was introduced in Kenya in the early 1990s.
