President Yoweri Museveni has met Kenyan presidential aspirant Raila Odinga ahead of the August elections. The two met at State House Entebbe.
“I received Raila Odinga, who paid me a courtesy call at State House Entebbe this evening. We discussed a wide range of issues concerning our two countries. I welcome him,” Museveni said.
Following their meeting, Odinga took to twitter and said; “We walked down memory lane to discuss the shared history of our countries aimed at forging stronger ties moving into the future. That formed the core of a pleasant discussion with President Museveni at Statehouse in Entebbe, Uganda.”
This comes amidst rumours of William Ruto counting on Museveni’s support for his 2022 presidential bid. However, Museveni said he will not take sides in the Kenyan election scheduled for August 9.
Previously, Odinga met with President Salva Kiir Mayardit in Juba, South Sudan before enrouting to Uganda. The two launched the freedom bridge in Juba for business.
“This bridge will play a key role in enhancing connectivity and trade in our region. It is great seeing the project come to fruition,” Odinga said.
Odinga seeks to replace Uhuru Kenyatta who has served two terms as the president of Kenya. Last week, he announced Martha Karua, a veteran female politician and one-time rival as his running mate. She ran for president herself in 2013.
He is competing against William Samoei Arap Ruto currently serves as Deputy President of Kenya since September 2013 and over 40 other candidates. On 15 March 2022, Ruto was endorsed by UDA as the party’s presidential candidate for Kenya’s presidential election set for August 2022.
Odinga served as the Prime Minister of Kenya from 2008 to 2013. He has been the Leader of Opposition in Kenya since 2013. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Langata from 1992 to 2007. Raila Odinga served in the Cabinet of Kenya as Minister for Energy from 2001 to 2002, and as the Minister for Roads, Public Works and Housing from 2003 to 2005. Odinga was appointed High Representative for Infrastructure Development at the African Union Commission in 2018.
He was the main opposition candidate in the 2007 presidential election, running against the then incumbent Mwai Kibaki. In the subsequent presidential election five years later he placed second against Uhuru Kenyatta, garnering 5,340,546 votes, which represented 43.28% of the total votes cast.
He made another attempt for the presidency in August 2017 against Uhuru Kenyatta. The electoral body declared Uhuru Kenyatta winner with 54% of the votes cast to Odinga’s 43%. This outcome was eventually annulled by the Supreme Court following findings that the election was marred by ‘Illegalities and irregularities.’ A subsequent fresh election ordered by the Court was won by Uhuru Kenyatta when Odinga declined to participate citing inadequate reforms to enable a fair process in the repeat poll.
