August 2022 election will be my last stab at the presidency, Raila tells BBC
August 2022 election will be my last stab at the presidency, Raila said during an interview with BBC.
Azimio presidential candidate Raila Odinga has said that this year’s general election will be his last stab at the presidency.
He said he does not intend to vie again because of his age but he will still have much to do out of elective politics.
“I’ve been out of active politics but the African Union appointed me as the High Representative on infrastructure and it kept me very busy,” he said in an interview with BBC.
The former prime minister who is 77 years old first contested the presidency in 1997 losing to the late former president Daniel Moi, in disputed 2007 where Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner, and in 2013 and in 2017 where he lost to President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Raila, who will be making his fifth stab at the presidency, is facing stiff competition from Deputy President William Ruto of UDA.
Raila had hinted that the 2017 election would have been his last but he was forced to yield to pressure from close allies and change his mind for the fifth attempt.
Raila whose running-mate is former Justice Minister Martha Karua is running on an anti-corruption card and has vowed not to spare anyone in the fight against the vice.
In an interview with BBC, Raila said should he win the August 2022 election, he would focus on fighting corruption adding that the country has been losing a lot due to the vice and must be stopped before it gets out of hand.
“Corruption will be the thing of the past under the Azimio administration, we will not spare anyone, those culpable will be dealt with by law there will be no sacred cows,” Raila said.
He added; “No one is indispensable. If I’m found to be corrupt, they should deal with me,” he said, citing the South Korean example where President Park Geun-hye was impeached and jailed for nearly five years for corruption.”
On foreign debt management, Raila said he will be seeking talks to rearrange repayment with foreign donors. Raila said he intends to introduce austerity measures.
“The country will not default on repayment under my watch, we will plan well and agree on how to repay,” Raila said.
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Raila congratulates Martha Karua for keeping cool despite provocation by Gachagua
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