A new petition by a Kenyan living in the U.K seeks to have opposition leader Raila Odinga nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize and ultimately win the prestigious award.
The petitioner, Ali Abdi who is currently in Hayes in the United Kingdom, praised Raila on his peace-keeping actions in the country and other areas. He quipped that the recent ‘handshake’ with President Uhuru Kenyatta is also another sign that he deserves it.
“Hon. Raila Odinga has transformed the lives of millions of Kenyans by sacrificing his freedom in exchange for transformation from totalitarianism, tyranny, dictatorial norms and draconian dark day single party democratic monopoly to multi-party democracy creating opportunity for people to exercise their rights to elect persons of their choice,” he stated.
[caption caption="President Uhuru Kenyatta with Raila Odinga at a press briefing- via Facebook"]
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The petition had set the signatures needed at 2,500 and by Monday morning, the signatures were at 1,700.
“Raila has played an important role and pioneered/brokered peace initiatives not only in Kenya but the African continent,” the petitioner added.
Ali also went on to talk about the agreement Raila had with Uhuru stating: ”The recent handshake with President Kenyatta like the previous with President Kibaki saved Kenya from turning into a bloody civil war. Raila Odinga deserves Nobel Peace Price.”
The signatures will be sent to the Nobel Norwegian Committee who decide on the nominees.
The Nobel Foundation usually receives the nominees list starting September. The deadline is usually by February and a review is made in March and August.
This indicates that the Kenyan petitioner might get a window before the final review in August which could see the Opposition leader considered for the award.
The nominees for the award will be announced on October 5, 2018. The awards ceremony will take place in December in Norway’s capital of Oslo.
[caption caption="Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga with ex-US President Barack Obama"]
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