Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Alliance presidential candidate Raila Odinga has urged Kenyans to maintain peace even as they wait for presidential results from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
Raila thanked God for the country’s peace since Tuesday, August 9, when Kenyans went to the polls to elect new leaders.
Speaking at ACK St. Francis Church in Karen, where he attended a church service on Sunday, August 14, with his running mate Martha Karua, the former prime minister asked God to make him an instrument of peace even as the country awaits the presidential results.
“Lord, make us instruments of Thy peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, a union where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy,” Raila prayed.
“We want to thank the Lord for having brought us so far, through election campaigns… elections have been peaceful so far; we hope this peace will prevail even after elections,” he added.
Further, he told his supporters that they have reached the promised land as he urged them to remain cool, calm and collected.
“O Lord, bless our land and nation, justice be our shield and defender, may we dwell in unity, peace and liberty, plenty be found within our borders. The land where plenty is found in Canaan, and Azimio wants to take our people to Canaan,” he added.
This was Odinga’s first public address since the August 9 election, and he used the opportunity to urge Kenyans to remain calm in the midst of the chaos and drama at the National Tallying Centre in the Bomas of Kenya.
Raila’s words come on the heels of a night of chaos at the Bomas, in which an IEBC official was beaten and multiple people were escorted out of the auditorium by anti-riot police.
Azimio’s chief agent reacted angrily to the events inside the auditorium, issuing a strongly worded statement to the media questioning the credibility of the tallying process thus far.
Saitabao Ole Kanchory, Odinga’s chief agent, had a run-in with police who had denied him access to the tallying area.
A separate scuffle broke out, disrupting IEBC officials at the verification tables, but commissioner Francis Wanderi directed them to continue working.
