Nairobi: Kenyan coalition of opposition parties (Nasa) announced a nationwide campaign to build momentum for the swearing-in as the people’s president, of opposition leaders Raila Odinga and his deputy Kalonzo Musyoka on January 30.
The two said the date is now fixed, and that they will not bow to pressure from their supporters to “lift the Bible and be sworn into office casually”, saying they will follow a strict programme drawn by their advisers. The Nasa leaders, who were addressing a rally at the Kakamega bus park, did not give details of the timelines to their oath-taking ceremony. Earlier, while speaking at a meeting to officially inaugurate the western region’s People’s Assembly at Golf Hotel in the town, the Nasa leaders said the move was not driven by greed for power, but a quest for electoral justice and reforms.
They told their supporters they were working on a five-point agenda they want to be implemented before they were sworn in. The event coincided with Odinga’s 73rd birthday, with some delegates and leaders making a surprise birthday celebration punctuated by demands for him to be sworn in.
CUTTING CAKE
Busia woman representative Florence Mutua led a group calling itself Daughters of Raila in cutting a cake, while Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala led MPs and senators in presenting Odinga with the rather symbolic gift of a Bible as a birthday present. The Bible is seen as an oath-taking tool for Christians. “We now have a plan,” Odinga said. “It is not about carrying the Bible alone. We must have a plan after the Bible. We don’t want to be like (Ugandan opposition leader Kizza) Besigye, who took oath without a plan.”
Odinga said Nasa’s campaign will focus on electoral reforms, judicial independence, the transformation of the police from a force to a service, strengthening of devolution, and restructuring the executive. Musyoka challenged President Uhuru Kenyatta to embrace dialogue to save the country from the effects of the post-election standoff. “Wherever we go, people want us to be sworn in immediately. For sure Kenyans have made up their minds and this is serious business,” the Wiper leader said. “If the situation is intolerable, there must be negotiations. If negotiations cannot work, then Article 1 of the Constitution should be held. We are telling Jubilee to see the mood of the nation.”
