A 44-year-old teacher from Kanyadhiang’ village, Karachuonyo constituency in Homa Bay County on Wednesday, August 18, announced his presidential bid.
Felix Jarongo Odeny stated that he would contest the presidency in the 2022 General Election as an independent candidate.
Odeny resigned from his teaching job in 2018 at St Augustine University in the neighbouring country Tanzania.
He stated that for many years he had developed an interest in the country’s top job and is ready to battle it out with other aspirants.
Odeny acknowledged that his financial muscle may not enable him to run well-oiled campaigns but indicated that he remained undeterred
He joins Mwalimu Abduba Dida becoming the second little-known teacher to vie for the presidency in recent history.
The former teacher of English first vied for the presidency in 2013 under the Alliance for Real Change (ARC) party, finishing fifth.
Dida ran again in 2017 but conceded defeat to the incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta hours before the election results were announced.
As a presidential candidate, Odeny is required to have at least 2,000 signatures from registered from at least 24 counties. The constitution also mandates that the candidates must have met the qualifications of being a member of parliament.
On August 15, a retired General Service Unit (GSU) officer declared his intention to run for president in 2022. Zablon Karanja Mbugua, who served in the investigation department of the GSU will also be running as an independent candidate.
Odeny and Mbugua join gospel musician Reuben Kigame as the newest entries in the 2022 race for the State House.
Other candidates include Deputy President William Ruto, Former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and former United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi.
