Winnie Odinga’s hopes of representing Kenya at the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) now hangs in the balance ahead of the Senate vote at the end of the week.
This comes after United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Senators vowed to ensure that she loses the chance.
Led by Nandi County Senator Samson Cherargei, the Senators said that the young Odinga is not qualified to hold an EALA position.
Winnie Odinga wants to be an EALA member simply because of her second name, just like Kalonzo’s son. They should stop lecturing us about democracy when they practise the worst form of it
Senator Cherargei
Odinga name
They said that just because He added that just because she has an Odinga name, that is not qualification to hold public office.
“Winnie Odinga wants to be an EALA member simply because of her second name, just like Kalonzo’s son. They should stop lecturing us about democracy when they practise the worst form of it,” said Cherargei.
Winnie is one of the six people nominated by the ODM party to fill the two EALA slots.
The others include Business man Suleiman Shahbal, Mohamed Diriye, Timothy Bosire, Beatrice Askul, and Justus Kizito.
Every Kenyan has got a right. We never choose to be born in rich or poor families, we’re all Kenyans. When we come here let us respect each other, give each other an opportunity and God will select the best person to represent us
Ledama Ole KIna
The seat
Azimo Senators led by Ledama Olekina have however defended Winnie’s ambitions, noting that no one should be judged harshly because of his or her family background.
“Every Kenyan has got a right. We never choose to be born in rich or poor families, we’re all Kenyans. When we come here let us respect each other, give each other an opportunity and God will select the best person to represent us,” said Ledama.
Kenya has nine seats up for grabs at the East African Legislative Assembly.
Five of the nine will go the Kenya Kwanza coalition while four will go to Azimio.
From the four ODM is expected to have two seats while other affiliate parties; Jubilee and Wiper will each get a seat.