Raila declines to run for Homa Bay County senate seat

CORD Leader Raila Odinga has turned down a request by a section of ODM leaders to contest the Homa Bay county senate seat left vacant after the death of Otieno Kajwang.

Raila claimed he decided to decline the request by a group of Homa Bay elders and leaders following wide consultations adding that his decision had nothing to do with the ‘noise’ that was going on in social media.

However, reliable sources say that Raila was the one who came up with the idea and influenced leaders and elders from the region to push for his candidature to test the waters. However, this had elicited heated debate from ODM die-hards and rivals who all agreed that Raila was stooping too low by even harboring the though of contesting a senatorial seat.

Robert Alai, one of ODM’s most vocal bloggers had this to say about Raila Odinga’s candidature:

In Luo, a man cannot go and sleep in his own son’s house. After an animal has been slaughtered, the head of the home would divide the pieces from the slaughtered animal.

After the division, the man cannot go and ask his kids to share the pieces he gave them. By running for the Homa Bay senate seat, Raila would not only have slept in his son’s house but also inherited his son’s wife. That is an abomination. It can NEVER happen in Luo land.

Raila is making a mistake trying to package himself. Raila is fit being an unpackaged politician, an enigma. You finish Raila the moment you package him. That is why I have insisted that Raila should stop trying so hard to be called PM or former PM. Raila should just be Raila. An enigma.

On Sunday, a delegation of elders and politicians met Raila at his Oponda farm in Bondo where they overwhelmingly endorsed him for the seat. He was scheduled to declare his candidature this Thursday during a rally in Homa Bay town. However, he was forced to cancel the decision after leaders from Homa Bay openly threatened to oppose the move threatening to organize youths to hold demonstrations to object his candidature.