Renson Mwakandana
Prior to voting day on Tuesday, August 9, the front-runners in Kenya’s presidential election have been making one last push for support.
Deputy President William Ruto, of the Kenya Kwanza Alliance, held a rally at the 30,000-seat Nyayo National Stadium in the nation’s capital, Nairobi, where he positioned himself as the contrast of the existing quo and the greatest hope for Kenya’s underprivileged.
He was previously thought to become President Uhuru Kenyatta, but that expectation was dashed when Kenyatta, who is unable to run again, allied with Raila Odinga in 2018 with what came to be famously known as “the handshake”.
Through Kenyatta’s support for Raila Odinga, the opposition Jubilee party’s potent electoral network is now open to him.
He is running for office for the sixth time, under the Azimio la Umoja alliance, including in the 2007 election that was followed by severe violence that claimed over a thousand lives. Odinga held his final rally at the Kasarani Stadium which can hold 60,000 people.
Raila Odinga is the son of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, the first vice-president of independent Kenya. His backing from the ruling party has transformed him from being viewed as an anti-establishment contender to the establishment candidate in this election.
David Waihiga Mwaure and George Wajackoyah are also among the candidates eyeing the presidential seat and also rallied to push their agendas and try to tilt the votes of the undecided Kenyans.
