Raila Set for a Five-Day Tour of the UK

ODM leader Raila Odinga is next week expected to leave the country for a five-day tour of the United Kingdom.

The Star reports that Odinga will jet out on March 14th, two days after his unveiling as the ‘Azimio La Umoja’ presidential flag bearer in the August 9th elections.

“Baba (Raila) will leave for the UK on March 14th for five days after naming of the presidential candidate,” a source privy to his itinerary told The Star.

While in the UK, Odinga is expected to hold a series of meetings in London, including an engagement with the Commonwealth Secretariat between March 15th and 16th. The secretariat is the intergovernmental organization that supports the 54 member states to achieve the Commonwealth’s aims of development, democracy and peace.

Odinga, who is also the African Union High Representative for Infrastructure and Development, is also scheduled to meet representatives of Kenyans living in the UK. He will also meet top British businessmen.

His trip to the UK will come days after Deputy President William Ruto’s three-day tour of the European country. Ruto arrived in London on Sunday after completing a week-long tour of the United States, where he held several meetings with local leaders and Kenyans living there.

During the tour, the deputy president is expected to meet senior British government officials, visit the National Counter-Terrorism Center, and speak at both the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), according to his campaign team. He is also scheduled to engage Kenyans living and working in the UK as well as pay a courtesy call on the Archbishop of Canterbury His Grace Justin Welby.

The two leading presidential aspirants are keen to win over the support of Kenyans living abroad ahead of the August 9th elections. Kenyans in the US, UK, Canada, South Sudan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and South Africa will vote in the upcoming elections.