Raila Fights Off ‘State Project’ Tag, Says He Only Needs Uhuru’s Vote

ODM leader Raila Odinga says he is the best candidate to succeed President Kenyatta next year.

Speaking during an interview on Citizen TV, Odinga dispelled claims that he is a State project, adding that he does not need Uhuru’s endorsement to win the 2022 presidential race.

“He doesn’t have to endorse me, and I’m not a project, I don’t want to be seen as a project. I want to run as Raila Odinga the way I have run, but if the president gives me his vote, I will be very grateful,” said Odinga.

Odinga, who will be giving his fifth stab at the presidency, believes he is best suited to take the country to the next level as far as economic transformation is concerned.

“Look at these different presidencies, our first president was an anthropologist, he gave us the Kenyanisation of the Kenyan economy. The second president was a teacher who laid a lot of emphasis on education, you can see the Nyayo milk program and so on,” said Odinga, adding that Kibaki, an economist, gave Kenya the Vision 2030 and an economic upturn.

“Now we have a fourth president who is a political economist, and he has moved the country to the point of take-off… if you look at the infrastructural development that he has done, it is big, it has moved the country to the point of take-off,” he added.

He argues that Kenya now needs an engineer to catch up with other countries that were in a similar state in 1963 when the country attained independence.

“I think I can do it, I have the ability, I have the vision, I have the clarity of mind and it is not just me, it is going to be a teamwork and I think I can be able to identify talents in different fields and make good use of them so that our country can take off,” Raila stated.