Kenyan firebrand to face Kibaki
2007-09-02 21:28
Nairobi - A Kenyan party has nominated top opposition challenger Raila Odinga as its candidate to face President Mwai Kibaki at elections expected in December.
Odinga, a former ally turned fierce critic of Kibaki, trails
the president with the latest opinion poll giving him 25% of the vote to the incumbent's 45% ahead of presidential and parliamentary polls in east Africa's biggest economy.
Odinga told thousands of cheering Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) supporters at a rally: "The coming election will be a fight between the forces for the retention of the status quo and the forces for change."
The son of a former vice-president and hero of Kenya's
independence struggle, Odinga is credited with being the
architect of Kibaki's landslide victory in 2002, bringing with him the votes of his large Luo tribe.
But the two fell out after Kibaki allegedly reneged on a deal to make Odinga prime minister.
Odinga led a successful campaign to block a new constitution
which Kibaki had backed at a November 2005 referendum. Then
serving as roads minister, he and some of his current ODM
colleagues were fired as ministers for breaking ranks with
Kibaki.
Another opposition party, ODM-Kenya, on Friday nominated the former foreign minister Kalonzo Musyoka, a former Odinga ally,
as its candidate for the poll expected in December.
Kalonzo and Odinga were both ODM leaders until the group
split into two factions after months of feuding in August.
Kibaki is popular for delivering free primary education and
healthy economic growth, but receives low marks from Kenyans for
graft and the nations' poor infrastructure.