Kenya’s opposition coalition, the National Super Alliance (Nasa) has named former Prime Minister and opposition leader Raila Odinga as its presidential flag bearer ahead of the country’s General elections in August.
Odinga will battle it out for the top seat with the incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The five opposition parties also picked former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka as Odinga’s running mate.
Thousands of opposition supporters thronged Nairobi’s Uhuru Park to witness the unveiling of the joint opposition presidential candidate.
Five opposition parties have come together to form a united front against President Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto’s Jubilee Party in the race for the presidency.
Opinion polls have put former Prime Raila Odinga ahead of his opposition counterparts.
The opposition laid out five campaign pillars, national reconciliation and healing, equitable distribution of resources, decentralization of power and resources, ensuring selfless leadership and resolving historical injustices.
Co- leader for Nasa party Musalia Mudavadi says: “There’s team that will stop the current regime hell-bent on mortgaging the country and our future from reckless borrowing to feed an insatiable appetite of sheer theft.”
Opposition vice presidential candidate Kalonzo Musyoka says: “The contest is between the progressive forces in this nation and those that want to take this country back to those dark days.”
President Kenyatta will be depending on his development record to win a second and final mandate.
The opposition on the other hand says Kenyatta has failed to end corruption in Kenya, one of his 2013 campaign pledges.
– By Sarah Kimani
