Azimio presidential candidate Raila Odinga has broken his silence after he skipped the 2022 presidential debate held at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) on Tuesday, July 26.
Speaking during an Azimio rally in Laikipia County on Wednesday, the former Prime Minister said that Deputy President William Ruto, who attended the debate, scored an own goal.
“Jana alinifungia mimi bao katika goli yake. Alipiga pekee yake,” Raila told a charged crowd in Rumuruti, Laikipia.
During the rally, the ODM leader insisted that he could not debate with a ‘thief’ pledging to recover 16,000 acres of land belonging to the Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC) in Laikipia which he claimed had been grabbed.
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“Juu ya shamba ya ADC, hekari elfu kumi na sita ambayo imenyakuliwa na yule jamaa mnyakuzi. Jana yeye alikuwa anakanusha ndio sababu nilikataa kwenda kuongea na yeye. Nikasema mimi siwezi enda kuongea na kufanya debate na mwizi.
“Hiyo shamab yeye mwenyewe alikanusha ati si yake na kwa sababu amesema si yake, mimi natoa notisi hapa. Baada ya mimi kushika Biblia, hiyo shamba itarudi katika miliki ya uma,” Raila said.
Meanwhile, during the presidential debate, Ruto was tasked with responding to questions on the judiciary, debt, security, cost of living, governance, and his alleged ‘appetite’ for land.
While he seemed to blame some failures on the handshake and President Uhuru Kenyatta in the second term, he said that Raila could not attend the debate because he had no plan for Kenyans.
"My competitor is not here because he doesn't have a plan nor an agenda. He is not here because he doesn't want to answer difficult questions. In fact, he could not come because he is not a real candidate but a project," the DP said.
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