I’ll not run again if I lose poll, says Raila
By Anthony.Mwangi, July 21, 2022Azimio-One Kenya presidential candidate Raila Odinga says this year’s election will be his last.
He says at his age, he does not intend to vie again but he would still have much to do even if he is out of elective politics.
The former prime minister is 77 years old and is giving the presidency a fifth stab.
“I’ve been out of active politics, but the African Union appointed me as the High Representative on Infrastructure and it’s kept me very busy,” Raila said during an interview with BBC in Nairobi.
The ODM leader is running on a coalition which is supported by the outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta with the main contender being the second in command William Ruto.
Raila first contested the presidency in 1997 losing to the long-serving Daniel Moi, in 2007 he lost to Mwai Kibaki and in 2013 and 2017 he was floored by the incumbent Uhuru.
He 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 and entered the field for the fifth attempt.
Implement promises
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. He promised to implement his promises in the fight against graft if elected president in next month’s poll.
In an interview with BBC, Raila said should he win, 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.
President Uhuru said recently that the country was losing more than Sh 2 billion a day to corruption.
“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.
Economic experts have warned that the winner of the upcoming presidential election will inherit an increasingly unsustainable debt burden, with repayments slated to overtake the national government’s recurrent spending programs beginning in July.