NASA leader Raila Odinga on Tuesday revealed the reason behind his perceived acrimony against his one-time ally Deputy President William Ruto.
Speaking on Citizen TV, Raila indicated that he has been uncomfortable about Ruto's early campaigns for the 2022 presidential bid.
"Look at it this way, we are coming from a background of serious political crisis that cost lives and suffering for many of our people. Let's deal with 2017 before we start dealing with 2022," he expressed.
[caption caption="Raila Odinga during the interview at his Karen home"]
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Raila indicated that their his handshake talks with President Uhuru Kenyatta had settled on clearing the mess from 2017 elections and uniting the country hence Ruto's early campaigns were unwelcome.
The NASA leader further reprimanded rebel ODM MPs who have reportedly defected to support Ruto's presidential ambitions.
"I have told members that Ruto is the Deputy President; if he wants to come to your constituency for a function, by all means, welcome him. Do the functions with him, he is part of the government," Raila indicated.
"I don't know how 2022 became part of the development agenda. The time of campaigns will come. We cannot be campaigning from year 1 to 5. If we do that, when will we carry out the development agenda?" he concluded.
He, however, indicated that he remains supportive and equally critical of the Jubilee undertakings noting that even though he may not be vocal in the public, he calls Uhuru whenever he needs to raise an issue.
"We don’t want to put the country in a campaign mood before dealing with issues that led to the crisis in 2017. That is why ODM is trying to restrain members from engaging in 2022 campaigns.
"They are campaigning for another candidate. Has NASA coalition or its affiliate parties - ODM, Ford- Kenya, Wiper or ANC - said they are not going to produce a candidate in 2022?" Raila posed.
Here is the video courtesy of Citizen TV:
[video:]
