Sweet talk

Kenya 2022: Raila promises the moon with Azimio manifesto

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This article is part of the dossier:

Kenya 2022: Who will win the great race?

By Jeff Otieno

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Posted on June 21, 2022 11:53

Kenya’s Opposition leader Raila Odinga names his running mate, in Nairobi
Kenya’s Opposition leader and presidential candidate Raila Odinga chats with Martha Karua, his newly declared running mate, during the ‘Azimio la Umoja’ (Declaration of Unity) rally, at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) Nairobi, Kenya May 16, 2022. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi

Presidential candidate Raila Odinga’s Azimio coalition manifesto promises voters a range of freebies that many political analysts believe will be impossible to fully deliver if he wins the 9 August elections. Will Kenya’s 22 million registered voters take the bait?

Pomp and grandiloquence were the order of the day for the much-anticipated 6 June launch of the 47-page Azimio La Umoja – One Kenya Coalition party manifesto, which has since been developed into a more detailed 84-page version.

The 100-plus guests who converged at Nairobi’s Nyayo National Stadium celebrated the document as “the panacea for Kenya’s socio-economic problems”. Not to be outdone, Raila declared it as the “beginning of a new journey for Kenya”.

“The day will go down in history as one of the most memorable days of our times,” he told the crowd. “This is a result of a very lengthy consultative process with the people of Kenya.”

The former prime minister pledged that Kenyans would begin to see positive results in the first 100 days of his administration.

Cost of living

According to the 10-point manifesto, an Azimio government would adopt a three-pronged approach of economic

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