ODM leader Raila Odinga unveiled a plan to counter the influence being amassed by Deputy President William Ruto as the two woo voters ahead of the 2022 general elections.
The plans were disclosed by ODM Chairman John Mbadi on Thursday, September 17, a few days after Ruto planned tours within Odinga's strongholds, with an eye on Kisumu in Nyanza County.
Ruto and Odinga have also embarked on tours to counter each other with the DP pushing for the hustler narrative and anti-Building Bridges Initiative as opposed to Odinga.
ODM revealed plans to tour the country, pushing for the Handshake agenda, the BBI and anti-donations to the youth targetted by Ruto.
Analysts observed that Ruto was spending a massive amount of money on donations to the youth, whereas Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta had shifted focus on teaching the youth how to self-employ, creating opportunities and supporting the youth by offering government tenders like Jua Kali construction of school desks.
"Raila was our presidential candidate in 2017 and we have not picked another person. He is still our best bet. We shall do all we can to support him for the presidency.
"We are pushing for legit changes that will see an expanded Cabinet, as we push for the appointment of technocrats and MPs in the Cabinet," Mbadi stated.
His sentiments echo those made by Jubilee Vice Chairman, David Murathe, who stated that Ruto was positioning himself as an unfavourite candidate for the 2022 elections and may miss out on the race owing to his strategies.
On Tuesday night, September 1, Murathe highlighted that Ruto had proven to Jubilee that he cannot be the future President of Kenya from how he disrespected the incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta. Odinga seems poised to receive Kenyatta's blessings as indicated by Murathe.
ODM added that it will push for a set of reforms to counter Ruto camp’s anti-constitutional change agenda.
This will be made successful through opening up of public access to government administration, reforming the voting system and improving the government’s interaction with the public.
Ruto plans to tour Odinga's turfs to test the waters and assess how to destabilise Odinga from garnering majority votes from his strongholds.
The DP started with a tour of Kisii County. Kisumu and Siaya will follow. Ruto is banking on new strategists from the region who he convinced to join his camp after working for Odinga in the previous elections.
He has also created a strong youth base who are strongly pushing his hustler cause and narrative.
