Friday, March 11, 2022 –Azimio la Umoja leader Raila Odinga has explained what he meant by his recent Madoadoa slur while on a tour in Wajir.
In an official statement released today Friday 11 while in Kisumu, the ODM Party boss stated that his sentiments were blown out of context.
Odinga defended his remark saying it was only meant for his Azimio supporters from Wajir Region who had attended his Wednesday March 9 political rally.
He added that his meaning was quite different from what Senator Mithika Linturi had said during UDA Party rally in Eldoret.
“We were in Wajir and I spoke and used the word madoadoa and said even here in Wajir there are no madoadoa. Candidates who were there were from Azimio and they said Wajir is an Azimio zone and I thanked them.
“I did not mean that we don’t want other communities in Wajir. If there is anyone who did not understand my remarks, I want to sincerely apologize. I am very sorry. I cannot discriminate against any Kenyan. The remarks I made were very different from what was said in Eldoret,” Raila stated.
He seized the opportunity to ask Kisumu residents to support the Azimio la Umoja movement which has the full blessings of President Uhuru Kenyatta and several influential leaders from across the country.
Raila’s apology is coming at the time the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) had already summoned him over the controversial madoadoa remarks.
“In his remarks, he mentioned the term ‘Madoadoa’ which is considered a hate speech term in Kenya,” the statement from the National Cohesion and Integration Commission remarked.
But even as Odinga is being summoned, Senator Linturi is already freed by courts after his lawyers disapproved the cohesion body on the slur.