'We don’t need President Uhuru to popularize Raila in Mt Kenya,' Amos Kimunya says

National Assembly Majority leader Amos Kimunya now says that President Uhuru Kenyatta does not need to drum up support for the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya leader Raila Odinga in Mount Kenya region ahead of the August polls since the latter is already popular.

The Kipipiri MP exuded confidence in the ODM leader saying that he has what it takes to court the region and clinch the presidency come August without the president’s much intervention.

While dismissing assertions by the Kenya Kwanza camp who refer to the central region as Deputy President William Ruto’s stronghold, Kimunya insists that Odinga will bag more votes during the polls.

Citing the recent nomination exercise held by the DP Ruto-led UDA party in the country, Kimunya claimed that the low turnout was a clear indication of the false narrative of Ruto’s popularity in the vote-rich region.

“There is a rumor that has been spreading that Mt Kenya has been infiltrated but we saw the low turnout during the nomination for the other party and we know the people are not necessarily gone but are reserving their energy to support the leadership they believe in,” Kimunya said.

“I would want to keep off even the imagination that we need President Uhuru to come to Mt Kenya to popularize Raila; Raila is already popular in Mt Kenya and we are there to do the work for him. We are the people who have been elected here.”

He added: "I wouldn’t want to even think of us asking Uhuru to popularize Raila in the region because Raila can do that for himself. And we are there to do that ourselves. Let Uhuru do his work at State House, we are there to support Baba and we are many."

Kimunya was speaking in Kiambu County where the former premier was meeting opinion shapers and elected leaders from the county to consolidate his support in the region.

The MP similarly noted that the voters in the region were slowly adapting to Odinga’s leadership, adding that the ODM leader already commands half of the region’s votes.

"We are telling the people, 'don’t be afraid of the leadership of Raila'. People are quite getting to appreciate the popularity of Raila in the region; he doesn’t have 100 percent but he doesn’t have zero, it could be 50 percent and within the next two months it could increase. It is just about the confidence we go with," he stated.

At the same time, the legislator implored on Kenyans to consider the credibility of the politicians they are voting for. In what seemed to be an indirect jab at the DP, Kimunya said that Odinga had passed the leadership test.

"People need to understand that the region is so important economically and we can't just deliver that to somebody who is trading-trade, whose is basically reaping off everywhere he goes," he remarked.

“We have suffered in the past and Mount Kenya must now know how to defend themselves; without one of their own at State House we need to have someone we trust and the only safe hands we have is Baba the fifth."

The lawmaker consequently emphasized that the Azimio team was focusing on the General Election rather than the primaries and the party would continue to campaign for their flagbearer in the months to come.

"We want to refocus on the bigger picture; not the local elections but the general election. There will be other meetings in Muranga, Nyandarua and Nakuru and across all the Mt Kenya," Kimunya noted.