A crowd at the Bingu National Stadium in Malawi cheered on Kenya’s opposition leader, Raila Odinga, while he delivered a speech.
Raila, who represented Kenya and President William Ruto during the funeral service for the late Malawi Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima, delivered condolences on behalf of Ruto.
“I come here with a very deep heart and I speak on behalf of the people of Kenya. First I want to convey my condolences on behalf of the President of Kenya, His Excellency William Ruto,” stated Raila
As soon as the former Prime Minister hit the podium, he was received with shouts and cheers before he went ahead to praise the late Chilima’s stance in politics.
Raila’s speech was cut short as cheers grew louder, especially when he emphasised Chilima’s resilience in ensuring an equitable division of resources.
Further, Raila expressed his condolences citing that Kenya had expressed a similar loss when the country lost the Chief of Defence Forces, General Francis Ogolla, in a plane crash.
In his speech, Raila also pushed for African unity and fairness in accessing resources from Western Countries.
“We are not asking for charity, we are asking for fairness in the international world markets. We want to see that Africans are able to add value to raw materials, and we are respected,” stated Raila.
He empathised with Malawi after the traumatic experiences following a drought occasioned by climate change.
Raila additionally stated that he would push to have African states compensated for the devastating effects of climate change, noting that Africans were bearing the brunt of the events that they had barely contributed to.
The Azimio kingpin further pushed the agenda of having relaxed travel measures across the continent citing that the current visa system impeded African Unity.
Chilima lost his life on June 10 after a military aircraft that was ferrying him and nine others crashed.
The entire crew and other passengers on board, including former First Lady Shanil Dzimbiri, also perished in the fatal crash.
