Kenya: Uhuru Kenyatta formalizes his support for Raila Odinga
President Uhuru Kenyatta (our photo) has formalized his support for the candidacy of his former opponent Raila Odinga.
REUTERS - MONICAH MWANGI
Text by: Florence Morice Follow
1 min
President Uhuru Kenyatta has formalized his support for the candidacy of his former opponent Raila Odinga for the presidential election on August 9, in which he cannot run again.
This is not a surprise, but it remains a setback for its vice-president William Ruto, also a candidate and with whom relations have continued to deteriorate.
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From our regional correspondent,
It was during a meeting in front of the leaders of his stronghold of Mount Kenya that President Kenyatta chose to dub his former rival.
He presents Raila Odinga as the best able to defend the interests of the country and therefore urges his supporters to support the candidacy of the one who, at 76, is running for the fifth time.
Implicit support for a long time
This support had been implicit for many months.
Uhuru Kenyatta's party general secretary and several government heavyweights were even in the front row when Raila Odinga declared himself a candidate last December.
The rapprochement between the two men dates back to their famous handshake in 2018 which marked the epilogue of a post-election crisis during which they had fiercely clashed.
politically immature
Incidentally, Uhuru Kenyatta did not fail to dent his vice-president, William Ruto, also a candidate, presenting him as politically immature to lead the country.
William Ruto reacted.
He says he respects the president's "
opinion
" and his democratic right to show his preference in this way, but recalls that it is the Kenyans who choose and minimizes the scope of this support, "
My adversary is not the leader of state
," he says, but Raila Odinga, and I ask him "
not to hide behind Uhuru Kenyatta
.
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Kenya
Uhuru Kenyatta