Raila plays down claims of tallying centre in Tanzania

Nairobi. Nasa presidential candidate Raila Odinga was evasive when asked to clear reports that the opposition has created a tallying centre in Tanzania.

Mr Odinga initially dismissed the suggestion as “pure imagination” but then said its existence should not be a big deal since no law prevents interested parties from carrying out parallel tallying.

The former Prime Minister was the sole participant at the debate for the leading presidential candidates after President Uhuru Kenyatta ended a day of mixed signals from State House by skipping the event.

Mr Odinga used the opportunity to elaborate on his campaign promises such as the reduction of rent and to emphasise his assertions that all the security agencies are involved in a conspiracy with the Jubilee administration to steal the General Election in 14 days.

Mr Odinga caused laughter when he repeatedly referred to NTV’s Linus Kaikai as Joe, confusing him with KTN’s Joe Ageyo.  After the break, he preferred to sit rather than stand at the lectern.

POLLING CENTRE

Asked about the reported plan to set up the tallying centre in Tanzania, which President John Magufuli’s spokesman had denied earlier in the day, he was hesitant and then bullish.

 “Certain things exist in people’s imagination. Why do we even need to have a polling centre in Tanzania?” he posed.

He said that with the court ruling on results from the constituency being final and with parties tallying their results, there would be no reason to worry.

“Why should somebody be worried about a polling centre whether it is in Germany, Tanzania or even on the moon? It should not be an issue,” he added.

When pushed to answer the question specifically, he said: “We have a tallying centre in Kenya, in Kenya and in the clouds.”

REDUCE RENT

Asked about his pledge to reduce rent, Mr Odinga said the promise was premised on implementation of the Rent Restrictions Act, saying it had been ignored giving landlords the freedom to raise rent rates arbitrarily.

“We are going to enforce the Rent Restriction Act to protect the poor, to ensure they are not exploited,” he said.