ODM Party leader Raila Odinga at a past event. Photo/ redpepper.co.ug
Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga has fired back at President Uhuru Kenyatta over his criticism following the party's issuance of direct nomination to 800 candidates. Raila asked the Head of State to stop meddling in the issues of the opposition and instead concentrate on his Jubilee party affairs.The former Prime Minister also said he only gave direct nominations to ODM leaders who did not have opponents, adding that Uhuru and his Deputy William Ruto have never held nominations.“The President should look at Jubilee party issues. We have 6,000 aspirants and only gave 800 aspirants who didn’t have opponents. The president and his deputy have never had primaries, they sit in a boardroom and select themselves,” he said, as quoted by the Standard.The opposition leader further said Jubilee has already planned how they will share power in 2022 and 2032 yet they are so quick to attack the opposition over nominations. “They have even arranged for 2022 to 2032. We subject ourselves to nominations,” he added.The issuance of direct nominations has continued to attract mixed reactions from various leaders and activists.Raila, however, insisted that the exercise will not affect the party in any way as speculated by a section of leaders.