Raila takes matatu to CBD to protest high cost of fuel

ODM/Azimio la Umoja Leader Raila Odinga Monday morning took a ride in a matatu from Karen to the Central Business District of Nairobi.

In what caught town goers by surprise, Odinga alighted at the famous Ambassador Matatu terminus and walked straight to the Tom Mboya statue next to the National Archives.

He then went to a shoe shiner to clean his shoes to the amusement of the crowd that had formed. Chants of ‘Baba, Baba, Baba’ were heard as he strode across the road towards Kimathi Street, at the Dedan Kimathi statue where he paid homage.

He then walked for five hundred meters to a Pronto, a popular eatery that is adjacent to the County Assembly of Nairobi where he had breakfast with a section of Members of the County Assembly of Nairobi.

In the Matatu, Odinga paid the bus fare for all the passengers on board. He decried the rising cost of living which he said was unbearable for most Kenyans.

Outside the restaurant, the Azimio leader addressed thousands of wananchi who had been waiting for him. He said it was unfortunate that Kenyans have to go through hard times because the government had refused to listen to their plight.

“I just arrived in the CBD in a matatu and I know what you people are going through. The high cost of fuel has led to matatu operators to increase fares and I blame it on this inept administration”, he told a charged crowd.

He said on Wednesday, Kenyans will return to the streets not just in Nairobi but across the country to champion their rights. “We are peaceful citizens and we respect the rule of law. We shall exercise our democratic right peacefully and in an organized manner on Wednesday”, he said urging Kenyans to turn out in large numbers.

He was accompanied by the Chairman of the Azimio Executive Committee Wycliffe Opayanya, legislators Dr. Joshua Oron (Kisumu Central) and Peter Orero (Kibra), and the Leader of Majority in the County Assembly of Nairobi Peter Imwatock and the Majority Whip Moses Ogeto.