'Raila will never betray Kenyans,' Francis Atwoli endorses Ruto's new cabinet

Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) Secretary General Francis Atwoli has taken a swipe at those castigating ODM chief Raila Odinga, following the nomination of some senior members of the ODM party to cabinet positions.

Speaking in Kisumu on Saturday, Atwoli indicated that the nominations signify the spirit of multiparty politics, where members of the opposition can also assist the government in delivering on its agenda.

"These people who were saying that Raila is now working in government where were they when he was fighting for multi-party politics? Those are passengers who do not know what it takes to run a country and have stability, Raila will never betray Kenyans," Atwoli said.

The COTU Secretary-Genetal termed the remarks made by some members of the Azimio coalition as unfortunate, saying that they barely understand the intrigues of ensuring stability in a country.

He also called on the president to ensure appraisal of members of his cabinet in order to weed out non-performers.

"And we want to tell the president, we should have CSs reviewed either 3 months or 6 months because we cannot have CSs who all they know how to do is talk down on Kenyans. You must look at them so that we don't see a repeat of what happened with the Gen Zs recently because what they are asking for is service delivery," he noted.

President Ruto and Odinga have been facing anger from Kenyans after the nomination of four members of ODM  into cabinet including Nominated MP John Mbadi (Treasury), Ugunja MP James Opiyo Wandayi (Energy), former Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho (Mining and Blue Economy) and his Kakamega counterpart  Wycliffe Oparanya in charge of the Ministry of Cooperatives and MSMEs Development.

Odinga has since come out to distance himself from the nominations insisting that no formal coalition terms have been formalized between the parties involved.

"As articulated in our statement on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, neither the ODM party nor Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party has entered into any coalition agreement with President Ruto's UDA party. We had anticipated the crafting of clear terms of engagement based on issues we raised in our various communiques," said Mr. Odinga.