Safina Party flagbearer Jimi Wanjigi on Sunday, May 22, claimed that a Mount Kenya, Nyanza ticket was the partnership to transform Kenya as the country heads to the General Election.
Speaking after a church service at St. John’s Church in Siaya County, the presidential hopeful explained that the two regions had always created a transformative agenda in the country. He added that that was one of the reasons he had picked on Willis Otieno. a lawyer who hails from Siaya, as his running mate
Wanjigi referred to historical alliances of the two communities such as that of founding fathers, the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and Jaramogi Odinga pre-independence, and that of the retired president the late Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga.
"Historically, when the people of Nyanza partner with Mount Kenya, good things have come. We gained independence, the second liberation, and a great new constitution, but the promise of that constitution has not been lived.
He added that his selection of Willis Otieno as his running mate ahead of the August 9 polls was pegged on the success of such previous pairings. Wanjigi noted that Otieno was a representation of the youth in his government.
"That is why we are saying that this is the time. The time for a new generation of which Willis is part and parcel of - 80 per cent of this nation is below the age of 40, and that generation can no longer be kept out of national leadership.
The former ODM life member reiterated that he and his deputy president-designate would form an all-inclusive government which would majorly focus on the youth - if they won the August 9 polls.
"They have to be part of the decision-making table. They are not coming to consume that which is on the table, they are coming to produce what is on that table," he stated.
Wanjigi further promised that he and Otieno would deliver economic liberation to Kenyans who had suffered the biting effects of the high cost of living that made life unbearable for the common citizen.
The tycoon turned politician revisited the incident where his motorcade was stoned in Migori during his campaigns in September 2021. He called for political tolerance stating that every Kenyan had the right to campaign in any part of the country.
Notably, Wanjigi and Otieno are not the only pair from the Mount Kenya, Nyanza regions. They will be competing against Azimio One Kenya flagbearer Raila Odinga and his running mate Martha Karua.
The Raila-Karua ticket has proven to be a force to reckon with in the coming General Election with the latest popularity poll showing that the partnership would outmatch the pair of Deputy President William Ruto and Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua.
