ODM Statement On False And Misleading Headline Story By The Sunday Nation Newspaper of 18th August 2018
The ODM Party wishes to alert the public to the false and erroneous reporting appearing in today’s Sunday Nation paper, to the effect that Party Leader HE Raila Odinga has declared his candidature for the 2022 Presidential race.
At no time during his speech at the burial of the late mama Eva Donde did the Party leader discuss the 2022 Election.
Indeed the only matter he touched on was the impending Party grassroots elections scheduled for next year, in accordance with the Party Constitution.
H.E. Raila Odinga remains committed to partnering with the President in building a lasting legacy, and has said numerous times that he is opposed to any discussions revolving around the 2022 elections, given that there is a serving President whose term he respects.
It is clear there are elements within the media keen on peddling falsehoods with the intention of stoking public disaffection with initiatives by the Party Leader and HE President Uhuru Kenyatta to bring the nation together and bridge longstanding rifts.
It is these forces who insist on imputing sinister motives on the part of the two leaders in their rapprochement following the acrimonious elections of 2017.
It remains the stated objective of the Building Bridges Initiative to focus on addressing long standing issues in our country including politics of ethnicity, exclusion and corruption and no amount of propaganda will shift our focus from that.
We reiterate that as a party our singular focus at the moment is in ensuring the success of the Building Bridges Initiative, and in particular ensuring that any recommendations for legal and constitutional reforms are fully implemented. Matters of 2022, including who we will front as our presidential candidate, will be dealt with at that time.
The public is urged to treat the fake News headline story by today’s Sunday Nation paper with the contempt it deserves.
Edwin Sifuna
Secretary General
Orange Democratic Movement
18/08/2019
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