1,500 Nyanza delegates endorse Raila to run for Presidency

About 1,500 delegates drawn from Kisumu, Siaya, Nyamira, Kisii, Homa Bay and Migori gathered at Sikri Technical College for a conference that gave ODM Leader Raila Odinga the green-light to go and look for support from the rest of Kenya

Led by several Governors, Senators, the political leadership Raila their blessings to run for President.

The conference concluded with a raft of resolutions being ratified, top among them was the region’s decision to continue supporting the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).

Dubbed the ‘Oyugis declaration’, the conference also resolved that henceforth, the region’s politics will revolve around growing Nyanza’s economic development.

The resolutions read by Senator Sam Ongeri (Kisii) also resolved to reject the politics of tokenism that they said has perpetually condemned the area’s youths to hustler’s brigade.

The leaders further pledged to ensure Nyanza remains consolidated behind Raila to enable him to focus on mobilising support outside the region.

Senators, governors and their deputies, MPs and MCAs drawn from the six Nyanza counties witnessed the opposition leader begin his next bid from his political home.

Speaking at the conference, Raila announced that the party had suspended the planned regional Town Hall meetings.

“We met with the medical experts who advised against having public gatherings. However the government directives came late after the convenors of today’s meeting had made preparations which were almost complete, ” Raila said.

Raila at the same time urged Nyanza residents to use the lessons learned during Covid-19 to build resilience that will make them economically self reliant.

“So far, we have only been scratching just the surface in regards to production of food crops. We can take advantage of the immense natural resources in the region to turn around our economic fortunes, ” he said.

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