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Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya coalition leader Raila Odinga on Wednesday, January 11 met United Kingdom’s High Commissioner to Kenya, Jane Marriot.

In a statement, the former Prime Minister said he discussed areas of collaboration between Kenya and the UK.

“This afternoon, we were hosted by Jane Marriott, the British High Commissioner to Kenya.

“We discussed the situation in the country, potential areas of collaboration, and agreed to consult on a regular basis to discuss matters of national and mutual interest,” he said.

Raila was accompanied by Jubilee Party Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni, Wycliffe Oparanya, and Junet Mohamed among other leaders.

Raila blames western powers

The Azimio leader had in October last year blamed western countries for his election loss.

The former Azimio presidential flag bearer claims the international community was uncomfortable with his bid for the country’s top job because of his plan to tame market monopolies dominated by western countries.

The ODM party leader took issue with the failure of the international community to condemn what he termed as an ‘electoral coup d’état’ that took place in the country on August 15.

According to Raila, the move by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman Wafula Chebukati to announce the presidential results on August 15 despite opposition from four out of the seven commissioners of the electoral body, was a clear indication that the poll was flawed.

“On August 15, you saw the chairman of the commission running to go and announce the results and the bigger part of the commissioners saying ‘no, these are not the results.’

“The international community cannot condemn such kind of an action because they knew what was happening. It can only happen in Africa, and not in Europe and the United States.

“It is only here where the chairman of the electoral commission goes alone out of the seven commissioners to announce the results, then they say he is the hero of the day instead of saying he is the devil of the day,” Raila stated.

He alleged that foreign powers spearheaded a conspiracy to ensure Kenya Kwanza Alliance Leader William Ruto was declared President.

“The international monopoly capital is not comfortable when you are talking about making Kenya a manufacturing hub to supply Eastern and Central African region. Those people are not happy with you when you talk about beneficiation and value addition to local raw materials that are going to compete against international monopoly capital,” Raila said.

“That is the reason why they don’t want us to go in there, but we cannot forever remain servants of international monopoly capital, Africa must rise.”

Raila vows to press on

The African Union (AU) High Representative for Infrastructure Development, however, stated that the democratisation project of the African continent must go on.

“You have seen in other countries the military coups are returning the generals are coming back and being greeted with flowers by the population. What is that has gone wrong?” he posed.

“But that does not mean we surrender. We must regroup and move on because Africa has great potential. The richest continent in terms of resources is one of the poorest because the true African democrats who believe in Africa and using African wealth for the benefit of African people have not been able to get power.”

Chebukati on August 15 declared that Ruto won the election with 7,176, 141 votes against Raila’s 6, 942, 930 votes.

Raila challenged the results at the Supreme Court but was dealt a blow on September 5, after a seven-judge bench ruled that Ruto was validly elected as Kenya’s fifth president.