It’s now war; Sakaja attacks Raila for the first time ever, as Raila Jr. throws himself in the melee

After months and months of running a largely neutral campaign that appeared determined to keep off the national political tussle between Raila Odinga and DP William Ruto, embattled Nairobi senator Johnson Sakaja appears to have finally decided to pick a side.

In a thinly veiled attack that left little to the imagination as to who his arrow was pointed at, the Nairobi County gubernatorial seat aspirant posted on his Twitter handle that he had just carried out great discussions with the leadership of importers and traders of second hand clothes, popularly known as mitumba. He went on to further say that his administration will be committed to protect and promote small businesses, and ensure a peaceful working environment for them. His tweet read,

Great discussions held with the leadership of importers and traders of Mitumba from Gikomba. We have committed to protect and promote your business and ensure a pro-enterprise Nairobi. #LetsMakeNairobiWork

 

Interestingly, exactly 7 minutes after his tweet, Raila’s son Raila Odinga Jr struck back with a tweet of his own. He posted a photo from the day he graduated, explaining that on this day he had been in such a hurry to go party with friends but his mum held him back for that Kodak moment, telling him that it was important such memories are captured for posterity and also proof. He then directly called out Sakaja by name. His tweet read,

Behind every photo there’s a story, I was so ready to remove that Gown and go Party  but my mother insisted on this old tradition of taking a photo with my family as proof that I graduated. Who knew it would be so relevant… @SakajaJohnson

 

A while back, while outlining his plans for the traders during his manifesto launch at Nyayo stadium, Mr Odinga lamented that the textile industry in the country had been killed through liberalization, which led to the importation of mitumba products.

“Our people are only wearing clothes coming from outside the country which have been worn by people who are dead. We are going to go to primary production so that our people who are importing mitumba can have good products to sell here,” the ODM leader said.

This has nevertheless been perceived in some quarters as his dislike for small business owners and low earning people.

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