Nairobi — The Orange Democratic Movement’s National Delegates Conference (NDC) on Friday unanimously endorsed Raila Odinga as the party’s flag bearer for the March 4 general election.
Odinga said that ODM represents the interests of the Kenyan people and was ready to make their lives better and transform the country.
The PM who spoke after accepting the nomination said that his priority areas will be developing infrastructure, creation of jobs for the youth, food security and enhancing national security.
When he took to the podium Odinga said that it signified the signing of a contract with the people of Kenya on what his administration will deliver.
“We focused on infrastructure in 2007 and we have seen the result in expanded road-network, accelerated growth through ICT, and successful irrigation projects in arid and semi-arid lands. While we continue with this work, I now pledge that we shall again invest heavily in three areas: one, jobs, two, jobs, three, jobs” he said.
“Every one of the ills we suffer has its roots in poverty. At the very root of this poverty is the lack of jobs. Most of our young people do not have jobs. Yet our youths have been educated to expect something more from life.
They expect to be gainfully employed,” he added saying that youthful population can be a curse if not empowered.
“We want to live in a country where every family can place food on the table, where water is plenty in supply and every child receives quality education,” he said.
The PM assured of a peaceful election saying that the country must avoid a repeat of the 2007/08 violence and added it is possible to turn Kenya into “an African lion”.
Odinga pledged to engage his coalition partners to ensure that the United Nations Security council refers cases facing four Kenyans at the International Criminal Court (ICC), back to Kenya.
Zimbabwe PM Morgan Tsvangirai who was the chief Guest at the conference challenged those seeking to be elected to always “serve the people and not to misuse power”.
Tsvangirai at the same time called for peace to prevail in the elections period and urged that voters make the right decisions to elect a government and avoid a forced coalition scenario similar to the one of 2008 between Odinga and incumbent President Mwai Kibaki through a power-sharing agreement mediated by former UN chief Kofi Annan.