Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, flanked by his Zimbabwean counterpart Morgan Tsavangirai, received his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Presidential ticket Friday at a lavish party gathering.
The ODM National Delegates Conference (NDC), comprising party officials from some 49 counties, congregated in Nairobi for the traditional responsibility of nominating the presidential ticket holder in a day-long fete.
“We shall turn Kenya into an African lion by empowering the women and the youth, creating jobs and improving our infrastructure,” Odinga said in a speech, capping a day-long fete that gathered 6,500 party delegates.
Kenyans head to the polls on March 4, 2013, to elect national leaders for the first time since the adoption of a new constitution in 2010.
Odinga faces deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, who is vying on a coalition party, The National Alliance (TNA), alongside William Ruto, a former ally of Odinga.
The two are facing trials for crimes against humanity allegedly committed in the struggle in 2007 to retain or obtain power.
Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) charge that Ruto plotted to massively displace Kikuyu tribe, then supporting President Mwai Kibaki, to obtain a permanent political advantage in the Rift Valley.
The ICC trial is due to kick off in April 2013, but a national debate continues in Kenya on whether the two should be declared unsuitable to run for the Presidency on account of the ICC charges.
Odinga, who entered a power-sharing pact with Kibaki to end weeks of violence in the East African nation, ending its history of a stable democracy, has been building new alliances with ex-political foes.
Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, who switched camps before the 2007 elections to support Kibaki's ticket, also joined delegates at an indoor games hall in Nairobi, to endorse Odinga as the party leader.
The two are due to conduct national launch of their Coalition for Reform and Democracy (CORD), a coalition of the ODM and? Musyoka's Wiper Democratic Party. (PANA/NAN)