Reporting by Peter Mutuku.
Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua and Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga were on Wednesday cooped up in a closed-door meeting at the latter’s private office in Capitol Hill, Nairobi.
Governor Mutua’s convoy snaked into Raila’s private offices at around 9.35am and duo held discussions for about two hours.
Although Mr Odinga was not available to address the press after the meeting, Dr Mutua said his discussion with the former Prime Minister touched on several issues of national importance, chief among them the 2022 General Election and the race to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“I asked for his advice and shared with him my serious plans to run for the presidency in 2022. We agreed political generational change is critical in any society and I told him I was capable of running the affairs of the country,” Mr Mutua said.
The Maendeleo Chap Chap Movement leader, who has recently started popularizing his 2022 presidential bid and his party, said he was in agreement with Mr Odinga on the need for an expanded executive.
Mr Mutua is pushing for an executive that comprises a president directly elected by voters, a prime minister and deputy prime minister.
“We agreed to consult occasionally on this matter even as he advised on strategies to popularise my bid nationally. Ideally, we agreed that ‘winner-takes-it-all’ electoral system was responsible for the many problems facing the country and must, therefore, be changed,” said Mutua.
Mutua said elections should be transformed into an ideological and policy contest and not tribal affiliations.
“We need a scenario where those who lose in an election still continue serving in government as senators, members of the National Assembly and so on,” he said.
The Machakos governor also hailed Raila for his handshake with President Kenyatta, saying the move promoted cohesion where all Kenyans can realise their full potential and dreams.
