Raila reveals how he adjusted schedule in bid to avoid Uasin Gishu chopper ‘goons’

Azimio One Kenya Coalition presidential candidate Raila Odinga has revealed more details on the stoning of his chopper by irate youth in Kabenes, Uasin Gishu County three weeks ago.

Raila narrated to Kenyans living in US capital, Washington DC, the incident in which a group of rowdy youth attacked him and his entourage, destroying his chopper and vehicles.

During the Sunday meeting, Raila said he was made aware of the planned attack ahead of the burial of Eldoret businessman Mzee Jackson Kibor that was scheduled to attend.

Raila accused his political rivals of planning the "vicious and nasty" attack by hiring "goons" who were intent on killing him and and that only police rescued him averting a "disaster". 

“Some goons were hired and they actually wanted to kill us. The attack was vicious, were it not for the actions of the police officers the damage could have been much more devastating,” Raila said amid chants from the audience rebuking the incident.

Raila also claims the attack was meticulously planned as police recovered cash that had been given out to the perpetrators and weapons that were meant to be used in the attack.

“It was something that was properly planned. The police managed to arrest 15 goons that evening with bundles of money that had been given and the weapons they were supposed to use,” Raila said.

The ODM leader revealed that his team had prior intel on the intended attack that was meant for the morning of the day and he tried to avert the same by altering his itinerary.

“Unfortunately, we did not go home at the time they expected us to go, I had received information earlier in the morning that they had been hired to attack me at the funeral, so I decided to go when the service was over,” Raila said.

He criticised his rivals for their style of politics, which he termed as divisive and only serving to pit the poor against the rich.

“Our adversaries have tried so many things, they came up with a very divisive ideology of the rich vs. the poor and it did not work,” he said.

The PM left Kenya for a week-long tour of the US that was meant to end on Saturday but he was forced to cut it short and will now return in Wednesday to attend president Mwai Kibaki’s burial slated for Saturday.