God will not forgive Raila if he carries out undemocratic party primaries, says Former Police Spokesman Charles Owino

Former Police Spokesman Charles Owino has expressed confidence of winning the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party ticket in his Siaya gubernatorial race.

Owino who will be facing Senator James Orengo in the party’s gubernatorial primaries has claimed that he is a strong candidate in the race, and he believes he will clinch the ODM party’s ticket in a free and fair nomination.

Speaking on Citizen TV’s NewsNight hosted by the station’s Multimedia Editor Waihiga Mwaura, Owino said he will be resigning from police in the next few days to focus on his campaigns.

“I would like to say that I am a strong candidate, and I would want to believe without chest thumping that I am a front runner in Siaya elections as a Governor, and therefore it will be upon the party that I choose to carry out a vibrant democratic nomination,” he said.

He added: “I want to believe that my party leader has fought for democracy and I am sure that God cannot forgive him if he chooses to carry our undemocratic nomination processes because he has fought for it. You cannot fight for democracy all these years, get jailed, get into trouble… and I want to believe that he will not be mad to allow himself to carry out a nomination that would not be appropriate.”

“It would be unfair to ask us to pay for nominations when you know very well that may be there is a candidate that you prefer. It would just be good for a party to say ‘this is the candidate we want; you get another party.’”

And when asked why he took the risk to leave his government job to get into politics, Owino noted that there was no bigger risk for him than joining police job which is riskier.

“Nominations do not bother me. Police job is more risky. This is the job that if your girlfriend think twice before introducing you to her parents. A job that you leave your house and you are not sure if you will come back alive,” he said.

Owino who has been a police officer for the past 29 years said it was time to move out and pursue other ventures aimed at serving the community better.