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| Raila Odinga |
Cord leader Raila
Odinga on Sunday said he was not ready to take up a job with the
government because he is already engaged in various international
assignments, which are keeping him busy. In an interview with the Daily
Nation, Mr Odinga sought to put to rest the job debate, saying he had
received no job offer in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government.
“I have received numerous invitations from
across the world. I have accepted some and declined others. This does
not indicate to you I am a person who needs a government job,” he said.
“There is no offer I have seen and I do not need any job to stay
relevant in this country,” he said. “For avoidance of any doubt, let me
state here that I will not accept any job if offered by President Uhuru
Kenyatta’s government.” Mr Odinga said his “inbox” was full with
international and local assignments that will keep him on his toes in
coming days.
“What
I told the President is that he should resist the temptations to kill
the opposition the same way successive governments have done,” he said
on Saturday. Mr Odinga met President Kenyatta during the funeral of Knut
secretary-general David Okuta Osiany in Kisumu last month.
Our sister
publication, Saturday Nation, reported at the weekend that Mr Odinga has
not announced his next move because President Uhuru Kenyatta had kept him waiting over a State job. “There was a job in the diplomatic circles, yes, but the President is yet to meet Mr Odinga to firm this up,” an official close to
both leaders had told the Saturday Nation. Other politicians close to
the former Prime Minister said he was writing his memoirs. But at the
weekend, Mr Odinga said that during his talks with the President, he had
asked Mr Kenyatta to nurture the culture of opposition politics by
resisting attempts to poach from those constitutionally charged with the
task of checking the government.-“Accepting a job in government negates
the very ideals enshrined in our Constitution,” he said and dismissed
reports that he was being offered a government job as “propaganda”.
There has been talk that Mr Odinga — who lost the March 4 presidential
election to Mr Kenyatta — would be appointed as a special envoy. (MAKAU
MUTUA: Open letter to Raila: Don’t accept ‘errand boy’ job)
Such
a role would make him a peace negotiator in Africa on behalf of the
government.Mr Odinga said the role he wanted to play was that of
reorganising Cord to make it a strong opposition force. He said he was
soon to leave for a conference in South Africa, before going to
Australia and later to the US. “I still hold the view that I can lead a
strong Opposition from where I stand and that position has not changed,”
he said. And while speaking at the Lutheran Cathedral Church in Nairobi
on Sunday where he attended a church service, Mr Odinga dismissed as
rumours reports that he had been kept waiting for a job by Mr Kenyatta.
“No one has kept me waiting; no one can do that any way. But let me
stress here that I have not been offered a job, I have also not asked
for any,” he told the congregation.
He
said he was busy strengthening Cord so as to keep the Jubilee
government in check. “There is danger of sliding back to the dark days,
if we relax,” he warned. “We want to offer constructive opposition to
the government. Of course, we will not just oppose for the sake of it;
we will adopt a bipartisan approach in Parliament whereby we will
support government when they are on the right track and where we feel
all is not right, we oppose, but all in the interest of Kenyans.” Mr
Odinga said the fact that he had lost in the presidential poll had not
deterred him in the quest to offer Kenyans an alternative brand of
leadership. “The process must continue and I am determined to achieve this,” he said. ....Courtesy of Misterseed.Com
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