KENYA: Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga pledges economic dividends if elected president

Record ID: 361445

  • Title: KENYA: Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga pledges economic dividends if elected president
  • Date: 10th May 2007
  • Summary: (AD1) NAIROBI, KENYA (MAY 06, 2007) (REUTERS) HALL WITH LARGE AUDIENCE AND RAILA ODINGA'S BANNER VARIOUS OF BANNER READING: 'RAILA ODINGA, THE PEOPLE'S PRESIDENT' (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 25th May 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA9VG2MBYCBMUT54Y5D5ELRICET
  • Story Text: Kenya's most high-profile presidential challenger Raila Odinga kicks off his election campaign with vows to give the country is post-colonial dream of economic development.
    Raila Odinga is the latest of a handful of candidates to start officially campaigning for the opposition Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya (ODM-K) ticket to run against President Mwai Kibaki at the vote, due by the end of the year.
    But Odinga is the most high-profile candidate to enter the race so far. Jailed in 1982 after a failed coup, Odinga was one of Kenya's longest serving political prisoners. His father once served as vice president but later became the opposition's grand old man and helped force former president Moi to restore pluralism in 1991.
    He formed the ODM-K with other Kibaki critics in 2005.
    "Therefore my address today is in such reference; application for the job of servant of the people. I, Raila Amolo Odinga, hereby submit my application to the people of Kenya for the position of president which shall vacant later this year," Odinga said as part of his formal announcement.
    Thousands of supporters cheered him as he pledged to stamp out corruption, promote the private sector, introduce free secondary schooling and improve infrastructure.
    East Africa's biggest economy has advanced since Kibaki took power in 2002, when growth was just 0.6 percent. It is projected to hit at least 6 percent this year and 8 percent in 2008.
    Despite the growth, Odinga has called Kenya a "backward, struggling Third World country".
    "I believe ladies and gentlemen, that our country needs a social-market economy which is also christened as the third wheel. This is the normal modern social democracy. It is a system best suited to achieving faster socio-economic development and equitable distribution of the fruits of our labour," Odinga said.
    The 62-year-old has a populist appeal and commands deep loyalty from a support base that includes his western Luo tribe and Nairobi slum dwellers.
    "I think he has a will to pursue all that is in this place and I believe in whatever he says, and I believe in Raila Odinga," said one Odinga supporter.
    "Raila Odinga today is fairer to the common wanainchi (people) and can take us somewhere very far so may the wishes be with him so that he can succeed," added another.
    Odinga's main rival at the ODM-K primary race will be former foreign minister Kalonzo Musyoka, who was sacked along with Odinga and other dissident ministers for helping defeat the government in a 2005 vote on the constitution.
    Analysts say if the ODM-K coalition overcome internal rivalries it could defeat Kibaki, who is widely expected to run for re-election although he has not made a formal announcement.
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