Ex-Minister says Raila most suitable CORD candidate

Former Assistant Alfred Khang’ati has called on Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga to organise a tour of Bungoma to drum up support for the party.

Speaking in Kakamega on the last day of Odinga’s Western Kenya tour, Khang’ati said that ODM’s popularity in Bungoma is incomparable adding that a visit to the county will help improve the party’s hold ahead of the 2017 elections.

Khang’ati, who has expressed interest in vying for Bungoma gubernatorial seat in 2017, further stated that Odinga should run for the presidential seat as CORD’s flag-bearer since he commands a huge following than other candidates.

“Raila Odinga is the most popular leader in CORD, there is no question about that.  We are, therefore, not going to listen to this other noise of picking a flag bearer in CORD,” he said.

Speaking at the same function, Nairobi ODM chair George Aladwa said that the party would not agree any deal that would exclude Raila from the presidential race.

He noted that any deliberations on who will lead the coalition in the 2017 General Election should be made with consideration that ODM is the most popular party in the coalition.

“We are not going to discuss issues of CORD – that is up to Raila. What we want is to see is his name in the ballot paper,” said Aladwa.

Aladwa further stated that any ODM rebel that would wish to return to the party should not be given leadership position.

“These people have been given money by Jubilee to destroy the party. If they come back they should take a back seat.”

The Western politics took centre stage last week with Ford Kenya leader Moses Wetangula slamming Raila for excluding him from his tour.

In an interview with KTN, Wetangula claimed that Raila should have invited him to the tour since Western region is his block claiming that the tour was unsuccessful owing to his omission.

The CORD co-principal had also called on Raila to support either him or Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka for CORD to stand any chance of winning the next elections.

A day later, however, Wetangula seemed to backtrack on his earlier stand saying he would support anyone that has been picked to lead the coalition in the next polls.

@benjaminwafula