Azimio One Kenya presidential candidate Raila Odinga on Thursday, May 26, briefly cut short his speech during an Azimio la Umoja rally in a remote part of Busia County, after some of his campaign gear deployed to cover the event scared a section of the crowd.
Raila, who was speaking about youth employment, noticed that his audience's attention was divided between him and the hovering drones that made a buzzing sound, forcing him to allay their concern.
He began by stating that the machines belonged to his campaign team before revealing the gadgets' name to the bemused crowd.
"Do not worry about that, it belongs to us (Azimio campaign team). It is called a drone," the former Prime Minister explained.
He delved deeper to explain how the drones worked. He told his supporters that the devices enabled supporters from Kenya and across the world to follow his rallies as they happened.
"It is currently taking photos and live footage of the rally which will be transmitted all the way to our supporters in America and Australia. Lift up your hands so that they can see you!" he told the supporters.
Odinga continued with his speech, declaring that his government would create jobs for the youth in the formal and informal sectors. He promised to provide avenues for micro, small, and medium enterprises to access funds to boost their businesses.
In addition, he promised to address the mishandling of Kenyan fishermen in the border county, by police officers from neighbouring Uganda. He stated that he would seek an audience with President Yoweri Museveni to resolve the matter.
"I was with Museveni last week and if I had knowledge of what was happening, I would have raised it with him face to face. That notwithstanding, I will give him a call to ask him to let our people go," he added.
The ODM leader dismissed claims that he had neglected the Western Region in development projects after his handshake with President Uhuru Kenyatta. He claimed that he initiated the majority of the projects alongside Uhuru, promising more to come.
Raila promised to solve the land issues in the county. He hit out at his Kenya Kwanza rival, Deputy President William Ruto over his proposed approach to solving the land injustices in the Coast region.
He accused the DP of attempting to bring back the colonial way of dealing with land in which the government would take loans to buy land from landlords and sell them to Kenyans.
During the rally, Suna West MP Junet Mohammed clashed with activist Okiya Omtatah, who openly protested a six-piece vote for ODM in the county. Omtata noted that there were some poor leaders in the orange party who needed to be fished out.
After finishing his speech, Junet asked the lawyer to declare the party under which he will be running for senate. However, the MP made a snide comment after receiving the microphone from Omtata.
"He has stated that his party is the National Reconstruction Alliance. Is that a name of a chicken or a goat? Anyway, we will get to know today," the legislator scoffed.
Odinga is on a five-day region of the region which he considers one of his strongholds. Ruto, who was supposed to hold a concurrent rally in Teso South on Thursday, May 26, suspended it to avert clashing with his opponent.
