A section of leaders drawn from Luo Nyanza have disowned calls by a lobby group that Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader Raila Odinga hangs up his political boots.
Two MPs joined the Luo Council of Elders in condemning the utterances made by Luo Nation - Alternative Voice in telling the Cord leader to retire from active politics and assume the role of a statesman who can be consulted on various issues.
In a rejoinder to the utterances, Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi and Homa Bay Women Representative Gladys Wanga joined 20 Luo elders in renouncing their actions “as a cheap search for relevance by Jubilee coalition.”
Mr Wandayi who is also ODM’s political affairs secretary said the lobby was “made up of busy bodies employing tactics that have proved fruitless before”.
“In my opinion, they do not even warrant responding to because they will fail as usual,” he said.
Wanga said the outfit was a Jubilee sponsored “propaganda tactic to discredit our leader and paint him as having opposition in his own backyard.”
She said the outfit was bound to fail and urged its members to distance themselves from such movements.
Reacting to comments made by Mr Odeny at a local radio on Friday morning, a group made of 20 Luo elders in Kisumu West also renounced the utterances and termed them as dangerous and not reflective of opinions held by voters in Nyanza.
Chairman of the council’s Kisumu West branch Osendo Odera said they would not welcome any attempts to split Luo votes.
He said the former Prime Minister had brought development to the region and that factions that oppose him from within would be quashed.