{"id":116874,"date":"2025-06-20T12:03:31","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T12:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/06\/20\/no-matter-our-disagreements-and-disappointments-we-have-to-have-a-country-first-raila\/"},"modified":"2025-06-20T12:03:31","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T12:03:31","slug":"no-matter-our-disagreements-and-disappointments-we-have-to-have-a-country-first-raila","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/no-matter-our-disagreements-and-disappointments-we-have-to-have-a-country-first-raila\/","title":{"rendered":"No matter our disagreements and disappointments, we have to have a country first: Raila"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 20 \u2013 Leaders must do what is right and not what is easy and popular, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has said.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Odinga discouraged leaders from doing what is convenient or flowing with the current and instead make bold decisions to transform the country and address the challenges facing the people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy position is that leaders are put in place for difficult times to help turn the tide by providing solutions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom outside, we have seen leaders running away from leading and opting for what is easy and popular,\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n<p>His sentiments were echoed by President William Ruto, who noted that Mr Odinga\u2019s call for leaders to focus on what is right strongly resonates with the values of the administration he leads.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking during the second day of the Third National Executive Retreat in Kajiado County, Odinga said government programmes must always be inclusive regardless of how people voted in previous elections.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGoing forward, everything must be about the people and not the leaders,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Odinga called for national unity, noting that differences in viewpoints should not divide the nation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI strongly believe that no matter our disagreements and disappointments, we have to have a country first,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The former Prime Minister also shared his thoughts on the development of infrastructure, commending the Affordable Housing Programme and associated programmes such as markets, hospitals and schools.<\/p>\n<p>He pointed out that the housing programme must be integrated with markets, health centres, schools, and other social amenities to make it sustainable.<\/p>\n<p>Odinga also called for the expansion of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to make it the continental hub of Africa.<\/p>\n<p>He expressed\u00a0 disappointment with the cancellation of Adani contract to exponentially expand Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, noting that Kenya faces stiff competition from neighbouring countries that are developing their aviation facilities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf this is not done, Nairobi will become dormant,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Odinga commended the digitisation of government services to enhance service delivery, and called on Kenya to increasingly adopt Artificial Intelligence saying it will help catch up with the developed world.<\/p>\n<p>Deputy President Kithure Kindiki called for stronger collaboration among members of the Executive in the implementation of the development agenda.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 20 \u2013 Leaders must do what is right and not what is easy and popular, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has said. Odinga discouraged leaders from doing what is convenient or flowing with the current and instead make bold decisions to transform the country and address the challenges facing the people. \u201cMy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116874\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}