ODM to roll out 22 campaign teams for Raila

ODM to roll out 22 campaign teams for Raila

TUESDAY, 31 JULY 2012 00:14 BY JUSTUS OCHIENG

ODM will roll out 22 teams for a countrywide campaign for the party’s presidential candidate Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Party secretary general Anyang’ Nyong’o said, the teams dubbed ‘ODM Mashinani’, will start intense campaigns for the party across the country once Parliament resumes. He disclosed the teams will help the ODM Team Reloaded that has already hit the road running to drum up support for the premier at the grass roots level.

Addressing journalists in Kisumu after a church service at St Stephens ACK Church presided over by Arch Bishop Eliud Wabukala, Nyong’o said the teams will campaign for the party leader separately to ensure he maintains his popularity countrywide, ahead of next year's elections. “The 22 solid teams will go round the country to mobilise Kenyans, sell our reform agenda and campaign for our party leader Prime Minister Raila Odinga,” Nyong’o said.

He said the teams will also teach Kenyans about the electoral process, their rights and prepare them to elect a leader who will advance democratic governance in the country. Nyong'o said ODM was confident of winning and implementing the new constitution having played an active role in passing it in the 2010 referendum. “As a party that supported devolution, we will pay specific attention to ensure that devolution is implemented as required by the constitution,” he added.

Nyong’o reiterated the need to uphold full devolution as enshrined in the new document noting, “if we succeed in devolution the country will realise Vision 2030.” He said the party is yearning for strong county governments to ensure rapid economic empowerment and development across the country. The secretary general said the party supported the election date set by the IEBC on March 4, 2013.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga at the same time said, the party will use new campaign strategies to clinch the presidency. In the run-up to the 2007 elections, ODM set up a ‘Pentagon’ team that comprised Raila, his former deputies Musalia Mudavadi and William Ruto, Ministers Charity Ngilu and Joseph Nyaga and MP Najib Balala. Mudavadi, Ruto and Balala have since left the party. The ODM team has set up the reloaded team, the Friends For Raila (Fora), Young attorneys, Sibanduki, among other teams set to drum up support for the PM.