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Why I declined Raila’s lunch offer – Waititu


Kabete MP Ferdinand Waititu has said he failed to honour an invitation for lunch by Cord leader Raila Odinga because he does not trust him and his colleagues from the Opposition.

Mr Waititu confirmed he had been invited for the lunch but declined the offer as “I do not trust them at all, I feared we would have our lunch then they change tune while addressing the press”.

He was speaking during an interview on Inooro TV on Wednesday night.

On Tuesday, Mr Odinga hosted seven of the eight MPs detained recently over hate charges for lunch at the popular Ranalo Foods restaurant in Nairobi.

Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria and his Bahati counterpart Kimani Ngunjiri, both from the ruling Jubilee coalition-affiliated TNA party, attended the lunch.

Cord leader Raila Odinga embraces Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria during a lunch event at Ranalo Foods restaurant, Nairobi, June 21, 2016. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE
Cord leader Raila Odinga embraces Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria during a lunch event at Ranalo Foods restaurant, Nairobi, June 21, 2016. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE

Cord members present were Machakos Senator Johnson Muthama and MPs Timothy Bosire (Kitutu Masaba) and Junet Mohammed (Suna East), as well as Woman Reps Aisha Jumwa (Kilifi) and Florence Mutua (Busia).

AT FUNERAL

Mr Odinga said the Kabete MP could not attend as he was at a funeral.

He said the symbolic lunch with Mr Kuria and Mr Ngunjiri was to show Kenyans reconciliation is important.

Mr Kuria is alleged to have claimed that Mr Odinga should be shot dead while Mr Ngunjiri had attempted to evict the Mr Odinga from a restaurant in Nakuru, where he was holding an elders meeting.

“Today, we have just met here as Kenyans,” said Mr Odinga. “We want to stand in solidarity with our brothers who were incarcerated.

During the Wednesday interview at Inooro TV, which broadcasts in Kikuyu language, Mr Waititu said he not trust Cord politicians.

He accused some unnamed Cord-affiliated politicians of grabbing land in Embakasi, Nairobi, as one of the reasons he could not trust them.

“I know Raila and Kalonzo very well because since the days I was the Nairobi deputy mayor….they are not trustworthy,” added the Kabete legislator.