Is Azimio an Amorphous Union?
Orange Democratic Movement {ODM} party leader Raila Odinga is the preferred presidential candidate for Azimio la Umoja coalition. The coalition is a conglomeration of political parties headed by leaders supporting the handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and the former prime minister.
Christine Juma 
However, the handshake, highly esteemed by the president as a milieu of national unity, has incessantly been criticized by Jubilee party defectors who are allied to the Deputy President William Ruto.
With the swift approach of the election date, finding a stable formation free from deceptions is the main appetency of presidential aspirants. The former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has the backing of President Uhuru Kenyatta with the hope that he’ll influence the Mount Kenya community to support his bid. However, Raila has a huge task to undertake in setting a tried-and-true outfit in Azimio la Umoja coalition.
His own ODM party is ailing from internal discordance that so far has not been addressed. For instance, business tycoon Jimmy Wanjigi who is a strong member of the party and Raila’s friend has consistently laid out claims branding the party leader as being dishonest, selfish, and unfit for the presidential seat.
ODM leader Raila Odinga & Business Tycoon Jimmy Wanjigi. PHOTO FILE
Wanjigi is eying the presidential seat and is seeking to ouster Raila as ODM presidential candidate through a nomination in the party’s forthcoming NDC.
Another milestone that Raila has to face lies in the influence that President Uhuru has in the Mount Kenya region. The president has day and night been castigated by some of Mount Kenya MP’s allied to the deputy president for failing to deliver development projects immediately after joining hands with Raila Odinga.
The fallout between Uhuru and Ruto has developed war of words and the president has been termed as the most uninfluential in the region daring him to hold rallies to prove their accusations. Uhuru's strategy of inviting leaders and personalities of diverse status at the statehouse with the aspiration of campaigning for Raila has not been fecund enough to combat Ruto’s massive campaign at the root level in different parts of the nation.
