ODM Leader Raila Odinga has opened up on the events surrounding his 2018 controversial swearing-in as the People’s President, noting that he was set to face treason charges, but President Uhuru Kenyatta intervened and rescued him.
Speaking in Nyamira County on Friday, Odinga noted that the president had been advised to charge him with treason, but he objected, arguing that it the move could have resulted in more harm.
“The country was totally torn, people had drawn different maps of the country, they had dismembered the country, there was the United people’s Republic of Kenya and the Republic of Kenya. Tukasema sasa, tuchome picha yote ya rais alafu tuanze kutoza ushuru tuendeLE na mambo yetu kwa upande yetu, I said no, that will take this country to Somalia.
“President aliambiwa, Raila amefanya treason, tumshtaki, tumpleke kamiti tumnyonge mambo iishe, akasema no. We later met and said Kenya is greater than all of ours and that is the meaning of the handshake,” he said.
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Raila addressing a gathering in Nyamira County on Friday October 22, 2021. [Photo: Courtesy]
During the event, Odinga rallied members of the Gusii community to support his yet to be declared presidential bid, arguing that his main objective is to unite the country in the spirit of the handshake.
Raila was hosted in Nyamira by Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang'i among other local Gusii leaders.
The former Premier was in the county for a fundraiser in aid of a dormitory at Mwongori High School.
Other guests who graced the fundraiser include CSs Eugene Wamalwa (Defence) and Mutahi Kagwe (Health) among others.
