Oburu dismisses claims his Senatorial bid will interfere with Raila’s presidential chances

EALA MP Dr. Oburu Oginga has maintained that his decision to vie for an elective seat at the August polls does not in any way sabotage his younger brother Raila Odinga’s prospects of clinching the presidency.

Oburu, who is seeking Siaya’s senatorial seat, and some of his family members eyeing elective seats have recently been criticized for prioritizing their own political aspirations instead of dropping their bids to support Raila.

His sister Ruth Odinga, half-brother Omondi Odinga and son Elijah Bonyo Oburu are all eyeing Parliamentary positions in different parts of Kisumu County.  

Oburu’s other son Jaoko Oburu had initially expressed interest in Langata’s Parliamentary seat but has since dropped his bid.

According to Oburu, the criticism targeting him and his kin is unwarranted since it is allegedly being propagated by his and Raila’s rivals, with the former premier yet to express any discontent on his family members’ political aspirations.

“These protests are largely propagated by our opponents – individuals running against us at constituency levels and rivals challenging Raila’s presidential bid – otherwise, I see nothing wrong in seeking an elective post. After all, we are not demanding direct tickets because we are ready to compete with the rest,” Oburu told the Standard in an interview.

Despite being the head of the Odinga family, a position he took up following the death of their father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga in 1994, Oburu stated that he will not deter any of his family members, himself included, from vying for elective positions since they’re constitutionally entitled to do so.

“We are free and independent-minded individuals who go for what we cherish and believe in. These protests over my candidature and Ruth’s did not start yesterday,” Oburu said.

“Even when my father was alive, there are those who tried to stop Raila, for instance, from vying for the Lang’ata Parliamentary seat in 1992 because his father was similarly in the contest for the Bondo seat.”

While confidently stating that Raila will win the presidential race with a comfortable margin, Oburu also addressed recent utterances he made in which he alleged that Raila’s previous presidential bids were unsuccessful owing to unwarranted influence from what he called the ‘deep state.’

“My last comment on this system issue was taken completely out of context. Apparently, the media and some politicians misinterpreted this to imply that we were going to use “the system” to rig elections in our favour,” he said.

“I meant to say that the system, which includes the police, the provincial administration and the Office of the President, has always been hostile towards us. However, this time around we hope they will not get in our way or impede our campaigns."