President William Ruto has pledged to work with ODM and UDA as partners in Kenya’s broad-based government, saying he will make it his responsibility to preserve the legacy of the late Raila Odinga.
Speaking at a church service in Kisumu on Sunday, Ruto said he would ensure that Odinga’s legacy, his party and the issues he championed continued to shape Kenya’s development.
“I want to assure you that we shall all walk together, the party of ODM and the party of UDA. They are not competitors; they are partners in the broad-based government,” Ruto said.
The President said he would personally take responsibility for keeping Raila Odinga’s political legacy alive, describing the former opposition leader as a nationalist and statesman who worked beyond ethnic politics.
“And in honour of my late brother Raila Odinga, I will make it my responsibility and business to ensure that his legacy, his party, and what he believed in lives on as we work together to build a nation called Kenya,” he said.
Ruto said Odinga could not be replaced and cautioned against attempts to do so, instead calling for his ideas and vision to be carried forward.
“It may not be possible, and it will never be possible to replace the Honourable Raila Odinga, and nobody should attempt,” he said.“But we can only work together to make sure that what he believed in, his legacy, lives on and informs the future of the development of our nation.”
He said Odinga had built a national political career and left behind an agenda that should unite rather than divide Kenyans.
“The late Raila Odinga was never a sectionalist. He never believed in tribal politics. He built his career as a nationalist and as a statesman,” he said.
The President also cited the Standard Gauge Railway and housing programme as areas where he shared a vision with the late Raila Odinga, saying some of the projects reflected ideas the late opposition leader had supported.
His remarks came during a visit to Kisumu, the late Raila Odinga’s political stronghold, where he highlighted his administration’s record in the economy, infrastructure, agriculture, education and healthcare four years after taking office.
He said his administration had paid close to Sh250 billion owed to road contractors, allowing stalled projects to resume, while 6,000 kilometres of tarmac roads were under construction across the country. He also said the price of fertiliser had fallen from Sh7,000 to Sh2,000.
In education, Ruto said nearly 100,000 teachers had been hired and 23,000 classrooms built, while 33 million Kenyans had been registered under the Social Health Authority.
Ruto began his four-day tour of Nyanza in Kisumu on Sunday, with stops planned in Siaya, Migori and Homa Bay for project inspections and launches.