7 November 2007
Nairobi — Focus started shifting to the constituencies where battle lines have been drawn between outgoing MPs and aspirants, on a day when two top contenders for the presidency yet again displayed contrasting campaign styles.
District governor of Rotary International District 9200, Mr Kaushik Manek, pins a Rotary Club badge on the lapel of the ODM presidential candidate, Mr Raila Odinga, at a Nairobi hotel on Monday night.
Mr Raila Odinga, the ODM presidential flagbearer, stuck with his Majimbo crusade and message of a new beginning while President Kibaki of the Party of National Unity (PNU) continued displaying a generous streak and harped on his achievements.
Determined to secure a huge chunk of the coastal vote, Kibaki spent a quiet day meeting Muslim delegations at State House, Mombasa.
But Raila hit the remote and dusty North-Eastern trail with the Majimbo crusade that the party appears unwilling to relent on.
Other members of the ODM Pentagon, who campaigned in Turkana and Kuria, were also reading from the same script.
This is regardless of passions and intense debate the Majimbo issue has touched off and its apparent susceptibility to what some ODM top brass have blamed on State-fuelled propaganda.
Raila promises
As Raila and Kibaki battled for the Muslim vote, focus started shifting to the constituencies where a mini-General Election of sorts is looming, with all top political parties having settled for November 16 as the date for nominations of civic and parliamentary candidates.
Raila insisted Majimbo was the only way the "ever-widening gap between the underdeveloped province (read North-Eastern) and the rest of the country can be bridged".
To back up this pledge, Raila spoke of free-flowing trade along the Kenya/Somali border, if ODM formed the government next January.
The Kenya-Somalia border has remained closed since last December following fighting between the Union of Islamic Courts and Somali interim government backed by Ethiopian forces.
Raila also promised residents a tax-free business atmosphere.
North-Eastern is predominantly Muslim, which emphasized the importance of yesterday's campaigns for both Raila and Kibaki.
In Mombasa, President Kibaki used the occasion of his meeting with Muslim leaders to declare Idd Ul Hajj an annual public holiday, taking the battle for the Muslim vote another notch higher.
President Kibaki meets former Coast MPs, Mr Joseph Kingi (Ganze), Mr Abu Chiaba (Lamu East), and Anania Mwaboza (Kisauni) at the Moi International Airport.
The Head of State went ahead and ordered Attorney-General Mr Amos Wako to immediately put in place all the necessary legal measures to give the edict the force of law.
The Idd Ul Hajj date is yet to be identified but Muslims at the meeting said it was expected to fall on December 20.
Accompanied by his wife Idah, Raila combed sleepy villages of the far-flung Mandera District soliciting votes in a whistle-stop tour.
"We will ensure industries are built in this province and see that services are not sought in Nairobi," Raila told a crowd at Mandera Stadium.
Former Mandera Central MP Mr Billow Kerrow and Mandera East Parliamentary aspirant, Mr Mohammed Qaras, received the team.
Raila, who was also accompanied by Pentagon member Mr Najib Balala and Mr Henry Kosgey, toured Takaba and Elwak divisions in this remote part of Kenya in search of support.
Raila dismissed President Kibaki's administration saying it had failed to improve the province's infrastructure, health, water and feasibility.
He said the province had a potential for agriculture and his government would ensure the resources were exploited.
He exuded confidence that ODM would form the next government, and asked the residents not to be left out.
The ODM team is expected to hold a rally in Wajir Stadium, Wagalla in Wajir West and the new Wajir South districts today. They will spend a night in Garissa tomorrow.
In Turkana, ODM Pentagon members Mr William Ruto and Mr Joseph Nyagah pledged to uplift the living standards of local pastoralists.
"The ODM government will ensure your livestock is insured against drought and you will be paid if they die," Ruto said.
He added that an ODM government will have water pans constructed across the district to help the pastoralists.
Ruto said water from Lake Turkana would be utilised to replenish the water pans in a bid to end conflicts between Turkana and the neighbouring communities from Uganda, Ethiopia and Sudan over water and pasture.
The two ODM leaders also said two fish plants would be constructed to enable local fishermen exploit Lake Turkana's resources.
"What we want to see is the lives of the pastoralists improved and this could be achieved when we utilise available resources such as livestock and fish," Ruto added.
The locals proposed Lwareng'ak and Kalokol sites for the fish plants.
The Pentagon members addressed well-attended rallies at Lwareng'ak, Kakuma and Lokichoggio towns in Turkana North Constituency.
Ruto censured the government for failure to provide security to the pastoralists and their livestock, adding that frequent external attacks from neighbouring countries had aided poverty in the region.
Speaking at various markets on a campaign trail in West Mugirango Constituency in Nyamira District, Pentagon member and ODM presidential running mate Mr Musalia Mudavadi assured Kenyans that a Raila-led government would guard against constitutional amendments that could bring anarchy.
Mudavadi said the ODM government would ensure any changes in the constitution were subjected to a referendum for the people to decide.
He dismissed as lies claims by PNU supporters that under a Raila leadership, the Majimbo system would require Kenyans to obtain passes to enable them to visit other regions.
Mudavadi, who was accompanied by former MPs Chris Obure, Martin Shikuku and Joseph Kiangoi, asserted that the country needed a new system of governance adding: "The new face of Kenya can only be brought by a generational change at the top."
He also asked the party's parliamentary aspirants to remain loyal and united in the party after the November 16 nominations.
Earlier, Mudavadi said that an ODM government would not punish President Kibaki and his predecessor, Daniel arap Moi, for mistakes committed during their reigns.
Mudavadi added that their government would instead protect the two leaders to ensure they enjoyed their retirement.
- Reports Boniface Ongeri, Osinde Obare, Beauttah Omanga and Robert Nyasato
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