Opposition Chief Raila Odinga has hit out at President Uhuru Kenyatta over as statement he made while on a Jubilee tour to Bomet County.
Uhuru while addressing constituents of Bomet on Friday said Raila is doing politics of division which could lead to post election violence just like in 2008.
According to the Star, Raila took issues with this statement: “Yesterday he [Raila] was talking about ‘wenye inchi‘ and ‘wenye wanafaa kurudi kwao‘ (those who belong and those who should return to where they came from) … and that is the same language he used to create conflict last time.”
In response through his spokesperson Dennis Onyango, Raila lashed out at Uhuru saying he has resulted to “politics of rumours and scaremongering.”
He refuted the statement allegedly made by the NASA Presidential candidate describing it as a claim “out of the blues”.
He also said that Uhuru has resulted to side shows, a sign he is worried of Raila’s growing support.
“Under pressure, President Kenyatta is creating imaginary scenarios and enemies and proceeding to respond to them.”
“We find such gasps of outrage rather hollow and unfortunate particularly coming from the President whose office is supposed to embody unity and certainty in the nation,” added Onyango.
He warned Uhuru to refrain from issuing such statements that paint him in bad light.
“Desist from scary-sounding pronouncements and instead be a positive and uplifting force by addressing the issues hurting Kenyans,” Uhuru was advised.
Raila has come under fire in the past week after he was reported on several instances to have made remarks which could cause chaos.
While on a NASA tour to Kajiado County, he is alleged to have told residents of the area to protect their land and not sell it to outsiders.
And Jubilee Party Secretary General Raphael Tuju responded to the statement by writing to NCIC asking them to probe Raila.
“We all know that it only requires a very small match to start a very large and dangerous fire. With these comments, Raila has struck that match,” said Tuju.
He said such statements are a recipe to ethnic chaos.
“…the use of irresponsible and inflammatory language will ignite tensions within local communities and can only be regarded as hate speech.”