{"id":47727,"date":"2022-02-27T14:56:37","date_gmt":"2022-02-27T14:56:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/?p=47727"},"modified":"2022-02-27T14:47:52","modified_gmt":"2022-02-27T14:47:52","slug":"kenyas-ruling-party-joins-opposition-coalition-for-presidency-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyas-ruling-party-joins-opposition-coalition-for-presidency-bid","title":{"rendered":"Kenya’s ruling party joins opposition coalition for presidency bid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Kenya. <\/strong><\/span>Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday said his party had joined an opposition coalition ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections in August in a bid to clean up politics of “crooks”.<\/p>\n

The announcement came after Kenyatta’s anointed successor William Ruto, who wants to contest the presidential election, was sacked from the ruling Jubilee party.<\/p>\n

“I heard one person saying that there is nowhere in the world where a government unites with and supports the opposition,” Kenyatta said, announcing that Jubilee was joining the Azimio la Umoja (Quest for Unity) coalition headed by veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga.<\/p>\n

“Kenya will be the example. We are mature enough to distinguish between politics and the needs of the people.”<\/p>\n

The East African powerhouse has traditionally been ruled by presidents from the dominant Kikuyu tribe like Kenyatta or the Kalenjin tribe like Ruto.<\/p>\n

This year’s contest is shaping up to be a two-horse race between Ruto and Raila, a mainstay of Kenyan politics from the Luo community.<\/p>\n

Ruto was initially anointed by Kenyatta as his successor but found himself marginalised after arch-foes Kenyatta and Odinga announced a truce in 2018.<\/p>\n

“We are looking to create a movement that will deliver the country,” Kenyatta said.<\/p>\n

The Azimio la Umoja coalition is expected to pick its prefered presidential candidate in two weeks.<\/p>\n

But many observers say Odinga’s nomination is a foregone conclusion.<\/p>\n

“We are in this to restore the soul and secure the future of our people,” Odinga said on Saturday.<\/p>\n

“If we stand together, I am sure nothing will defeat us.”<\/p>\n

The 77-year-old — a former political prisoner and prime minister — will then likely head into the polls without his usual fiery anti-establishment image.<\/p>\n

– ‘One strong man’ –<\/b><\/p>\n

Kenyatta for his part said the coalition “will discuss and pick one strong man to face the crooks on the other side”.<\/p>\n

With its diverse population and ethnic voting blocs, elections in Kenya have often been marred by violence.<\/p>\n

More than 1,100 Kenyans lost their lives in 2007 when a disputed election result sparked tribal violence.<\/p>\n

The rapprochement between Odinga and Kenyatta came about after post-election fighting in 2017 left dozens of people dead.<\/p>\n

The pair unsuccessfully tried to introduce sweeping constitutional changes as a way to end repeated cycles of election violence.<\/p>\n

The reforms — popularly known as the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI)– proposed expanding the executive and parliament to more evenly divide the spoils of victory.<\/p>\n

But it was seen by critics as a way to enable Kenyatta — a two-term president who cannot run for a third — to remain in power by establishing the post of prime minister.<\/p>\n

The government has appealed a court ruling that rejected the proposals and said Kenyatta could even be sued in a civil court for launching the process.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Kenya<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Kenya. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday said his party had joined an opposition coalition ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections in August in a bid to clean up politics of “crooks”. The announcement came after Kenyatta’s anointed successor William Ruto, who wants to contest the presidential election, was sacked from the ruling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":47726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,10,16],"tags":[6857,7003,544,8683,242,136],"class_list":["post-47727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-parties","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-kenya","tag-kenya","tag-kenya-politics","tag-raila-odinga","tag-uhuru-kenyatta"],"yoast_head":"\nKenya's ruling party joins opposition coalition for presidency bid - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday said his party had joined an opposition coalition ahead of presidential and ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyas-ruling-party-joins-opposition-coalition-for-presidency-bid\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kenya's ruling party joins opposition coalition for presidency bid\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday said his party had joined an opposition coalition ahead of presidential and ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyas-ruling-party-joins-opposition-coalition-for-presidency-bid\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-27T14:56:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2022\/02\/img-621b8ef543c05.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"538\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyas-ruling-party-joins-opposition-coalition-for-presidency-bid#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyas-ruling-party-joins-opposition-coalition-for-presidency-bid\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Kenya’s ruling party joins opposition coalition for presidency bid\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-27T14:56:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyas-ruling-party-joins-opposition-coalition-for-presidency-bid\"},\"wordCount\":485,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyas-ruling-party-joins-opposition-coalition-for-presidency-bid#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2022\/02\/img-621b8ef543c05.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Kenya\",\"Kenya\",\"Kenya politics\",\"Raila Odinga\",\"Uhuru Kenyatta\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"parties\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyas-ruling-party-joins-opposition-coalition-for-presidency-bid#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyas-ruling-party-joins-opposition-coalition-for-presidency-bid\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenyas-ruling-party-joins-opposition-coalition-for-presidency-bid\",\"name\":\"Kenya's ruling party joins opposition coalition for presidency bid - 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