ODM leader Raila Odinga has dismissed reports he could work with William Ruto ahead of the 2022 Presidential election.
During an interview with Kalenjin vernacular stations, Raila said that he does not need William Ruto to win the Rift Valley vote in 2022.
Even though they were on the same team in the 2007 General Election, Raila Odinga said William Ruto was not responsible for the popularity he got in the region then.
“I am waiting for the Kalenjin community to give me someone I can work with, but I am still the Arap Mibei (man from the lakeside)you used to know,” he said referring to a nickname given to him by William Ruto’s Kalenjin community in the run-up to the 2007 General Election.
While dismissing the possibility of working with William Ruto, Raila said his hustler nation political narrative is ill-advised.
“Whoever advised (William)Ruto to use the word Hustler misadvised him, Hustler ni mtu mkorofi, mwizi na mtu mwenye anatumia njia za mikato (a hustler is a wayward person, a thief and a person who likes taking shortcuts in life),” Raila said.
Raila Odinga added that he is not in need of an endorsement from President Uhuru Kenyatta or any other person to be the next president.
“I am not looking forward to any endorsement. The people of Kenya know well who to elect,” he stated.
His sentiments come days after he held a meeting with business persons from Mt Kenya region who endorsed him for the presidency.
The Mount Kenya Foundation members said that they held discussions with Raila Odinga after a request by Uhuru.
“This is the journey that we have started and once we are done we will go back to the President and tell him this is the person we want to succeed you,” said foundation’s vice-chairperson Titus Ibui.
A day later, the Head of State indirectly endorsed Raila Odinga as his preferred successor.
Uhuru argued that Raila is the best man to complete the projects that they initiated after the March 2018 handshake.