Editor's Review

Onyoka said the ODM leader deserves the presidency because of his sacrifice and service to the Kenyan nation.

Kitutu Chahce MP Richard Onyonka says he will only retire from politics after the ODM leader Raila Odinga becomes president.

Speaking at Orange house on Thursday, November 25, where he officially defected to the ODM party, Onyoka said the ODM leader deserves the presidency because of his sacrifice and service to the Kenyan nation.

{ODM leader Raila Odinga welcomes Richard Onyonka to ODM Party. Image: Courtesy}

The Kitutu Chache MP also rekindled his struggles with the ODM leader who he says he was arrested with during the attempted coup in 1982.

"When Raila was being put in custody in the year 1982, I was arrested alongside him. We never slept safely listening to him being walked away at night, we thought he was going to be killed. This is the man I have been waiting to be President so that I can retire," he said.

The MP pledged to drum up support for Raila's presidential bid in Kisii County.

He was accompanied by a host of aspiring leaders from Kisii County whom he said had left the party because of misunderstandings that ensued during party primaries.

The Kitutu Chache MP assured Raila that the Kisii nation will back him for the presidency because they believe in his ideologies.

Onyoka defection to the ODM party was welcomed by Raila who was present at a short ceremony organized to welcome him.

The MP, who is seeking Kisii County senatorial seat, said he could no longer stay in the Ford Kenya party because he believes in Raila's presidency.

Onyonka relinquished his post as Ford Kenya deputy party leader and was replaced by Bobasi MP innocent Obiri.

Together with Dagoretti North MP Simba Arati, the two have been crisscrossing the Kisii nation to campaign for the ODM party.

Arati seeks to be Kisii County governor