Azimio La Umoja one Kenya alliance luminaries gave yesterday’s Mashujaa Day celebrations a wide berth. Only Wiper’s Kalonzo Musyoka attended.
The first celebration under President William Ruto gave an indication that the aftermath of the recently concluded presidential election are still fresh in the hearts of many, especially those who didn’t win.
Only Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka was in attendance, a meeting that was conducted at Uhuru gardens, Nairobi. Azimio presidential candidate Raila Odinga is said to have skipped the occasion because he is currently out of the country, in a tour of India – while Azimio chairman Uhuru Kenyatta is in an official trip to Abuja, Nigeria. The former President is away in Nigeria for the third Ministerial Review and Performance Retreat. He was accompanied to Abuja by outgoing Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i and former State House Chief of Staff Nzioka Waita.
Contrary to the set standards by the former head of states Uhuru Kenyatta, the current president William Ruto did not give an opportunity to any opposition leader a podium to speak.
The Mashujaa Day celebrations was also attended by lawyer Miguna Miguna, who jetted back to the country from Canada yesterday early morning, a country he has found himself forced to live in ever since he was forced out of the country by the Uhuruto government in 2018. Miguna Miguna has been vocal on social media – always going bare-knucle against President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Yesterday was his first time to set foot in Kenyan soil after that fateful day when he was sedated, then thrust into a plane en route to Saudi Arabia.
Yesterday’s speeches during the Mashujaa Day celebrations did not go unchanged. ODM’s national treasurer Timothy Bosire took an issue with the many promises that panctuated President Ruto’s address. The opposition party’s national treasurer said that it was high time that the many promises were actualised.
“We have, for the last 59 years, listened to well-written long statements from all leaders rank and file, outlining all manner of priorities across sectors,” ODM’s Bosire said.
“But implementation remains the problem. Poverty is the common feature as the harvest of such speeches and pronouncements.”
The former MP added, “Little talk and more action should be the way and the future of the country. We must catch up with our colleague countries around the world, Singapore being the example.”
Former president Uhuru Kenyatta had set a trend where national holidays are conducted across all country, breaking the tradition where the celebrations were only held in Nairobi. People will wait to see where the next Mashujaa Day celebrations, and any other national holiday, will be held; whether president Ruto will stick to the trend set by his predicessor, or whether he will recycle back the old tradition when Nairobi hosted all the national celebrations.
