Mukhisa Kituyi drops presidential bid to support Raila

Former United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi has dropped his presidential aspirations in favour of former premier Raila Odinga’s bid

This is despite Kituyi, in late February, announcing that he was consulting with other political outfits in a bid to form the Sauti ya Wazalendo coalition, whose ticket he would use to pursue an elective seat at the upcoming polls.

According to Kituyi, who was speaking when he accompanied the ODM leader during his tour of Bungoma on Friday, he abandoned his bid after holding talks with Odinga for the last three weeks.

The former Trade and Industry Minister continued on to ask the people of the area to allow him to join Odinga’s political camp citing that should the ODM frontman clinch the presidency he will also have a good chance to penetrate Kenya's political scene.

In a perceived toned-down attack on Deputy President William Ruto, Kitua cited that one of the major reasons he joined hands with Odinga was to stop a ‘certain’ person from succeeding President Uhuru Kenyatta.

“It is important that a certain person be stopped from ever coming close to being president,” he said.

He however reiterated that he would still pursue the Head-of-State position in the future citing that his focus, for now, is endorsing the ODM leader to the people of Kenya.

“Na mimi nimemuuliza mheshimiwa baba kwanza tukitembea kwetu nyumbani nitaeleza watu wa Kenya kwamba it is good for me to aspire to be the president of Kenya,” he said.