A fresh assessment awaits Azimio candidates competing for the same seat under different parties affiliated with Raila Odinga’s ODM coalition party.
The former Prime Minister announced this would be to allow only the candidates with high chances of winning to proceed to the ballot on August 9.
The ODM leader said the coalition party will allow the candidates in such areas to campaign for one month after which a fresh review would be conducted.
“In areas where we have candidates fronted by our members, we have agreed they will go for the campaign the first one month and then we will do an opinion poll,”Raila stated.
“We will gauge which of the candidate is stronger than the others. The ones who will emerge as weak we will advise them to step down so that we don’t split the votes then lose to our opponents.”
He made the sentiments on Wednesday in a meeting with aspirants from Nyeri County at Windsor Hotel in Nairobi.
The ODM leader said that together with his handshake partner President Uhuru Kenyatta, they have agreed to ensure affiliates don’t fight for the same vote as that would be counterproductive for Azimio.
The opinion poll is set to coincide with the June 6 deadline for clearance of candidates by IEBC. Only popular candidates will end up on the ballot.
He also defended the decision by the coalition to zone the country based on the individual strengths of each of the member parties.
Azimio candidates will also campaign using one manifesto, Raila revealed, saying a team of experts was at the tail end of concluding the document.
“We have a clear programme as Azimio. There will be no separate manifestos. We are coming out with an Azimio manifesto. The manifesto will be published next week and you will all get copies,” he told aspirants.
He said the blueprint will be drawn in line with the broader 10-point plan he unveiled after the public forums on the Azimio la Umoja concept.
“Experts will sit with candidates to discuss manifesto so that we get a message which we will take to the ground as you do your campaigns,” Raila said.
The ODM leader moved to assure the candidates whose campaigns have been clouded by the “Railaphobia” to remove such fears from their minds.
He told the aspirants, some of whom have feared to associate their campaigns with him, to be bold, exuding confidence that the coalition would win the vote.
“You are not alone. You are part and parcel of a bigger movement. Walk with pride as you are part of a winning team. You are now the soldiers of Baba in the grassroots,” the ODM leader said.
“Last time, you had Uhuru as a candidate. I am the Uhuru of today. You are my soldiers in the region (Mt Kenya).”
He urged the politicians not to be swayed by the perceptions that Kikuyus cannot vote for Luos saying the fallacy was disproved in the 2002 election when Nyanza overwhelmingly voted for Mwai Kibaki (deceased).
“Tribalism was ended in 2002 when Kibaki was voted by Luos. The propaganda against me will be defeated. Go as Baba’s soldiers…without fearing anything. Take the Azimio gospel with courage,” Raila said.
The ODM leader said President Kenyatta had shared the same sentiments with him. “Uhuru is the leader of Jubilee…he is encouraging you to be bold because if you go to a fight with fear, you’ll lose.”
“We sat with Uhuru and agreed that we know where the rain began to beat us and how Kenya became divided along ethnic lines,” he added.
The ODM leader urged the aspirants from Mt Kenya to consider themselves in the right place adding that the coalition has support across the country.
“We have Nyanza, Western, a big chunk of Rift Valley – Nakuru, Samburu, Laikipia, Narok, Kajiado, Trans Nzoia, and Turkana behind us. Coast is all Azimio so is Ukambani. We are also strong in Upper Eastern, North Eastern, and Nairobi,” Raila said. “If you combine ODM and Jubilee in Nairobi, who can beat us?”
The ODM leader said his campaigns will be coordinated by teams cascaded to the ward level under the leadership of the Azimio la Umoja campaign secretariat led by ex-CS Raphael Tuju.
