The elephant in the room in Kenya’s quest to uphold democracy is exclusion, Raila Odinga has said while in the US.
“…Our biggest issue is exclusion. Ethnic exclusion is the major issue that must be addressed,” he said as told by the Star.
The opposition leader told an audience in the US over the weekend that exclusion from power of certain communities has continued to eat up the country and affected the electoral system.
His statement sought to explain his withdrawal from the repeat presidential race where President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner with over 7.4 million votes.
Raila has however disputed the poll saying a turnout of 38 per cent cannot hand Uhuru such a landslide win.
He maintained the issue of exclusion must be dealt with accordingly and sooner rather than later noting every vote must count.
“Our votes must count. If they don’t count there is no need for being in that country called Kenya.
“We cannot be one when one or two people want to make sure they rule the country. We have 44 tribes.”
Raila painted a grim image of Kenya exclusion stating it deeply entrenched even in the socio-economic sphere of the country.
He said many youths today get or lose jobs not based on their qualification, but because of their second names.
“When young people go for interviews for employment, it is not how they perform at the interview that matters but their name. Their name becomes the first consideration before their performance. This is something we must do away with,” said the NASA Chief.
The opposition leader left the country for US on Tuesday last week. He has been meeting various dignitaries and explaining his reason for withdrawing his candidature in the October 26 polls.
He is expected to jet back on Thursday.