Raila: King Charles invited me to State House
Azimio la Umoja party leader Raila Odinga has clarified that his State House invite came personally from King Charles III.
Speaking during the launch of Mau Mau Freedom Fighters Foundation, Website, and Memoir, Mr Odinga recalled that he played a significant role in voicing the compensation of fighters.
Additionally, Mr Odinga noted that it was the King who extended the invitation to the State House dinner hosted by President William Ruto.
“I was invited by the King to the dinner at State House because he is a personal friend and we worked with him and his foundation in rehabilitating Lake Naivasha which was polluted. We met first in Oslo with the then Prime Minister of Norway and he asked me what his foundation could do. There were four projects we proposed, Mau conservation, Aberdares, Nairobi River, and Lake Naivasha but they opted for the latter,” Odinga explained.
“He then organized a dinner in his residence in London and I went with the delegation from here and invited the companies there which market Kenyan flowers in the British market.”
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua had warned Mr Odinga he would not be allowed near State House.
“I have planned, I know he is a person of shortcuts. In State House, I have laid out traps everywhere, if he is seen he will be arrested,” he said during a Thanksgiving service in Nandi County.
The DP claimed Mr Odinga could use his access to State House to broker a political alliance with President Ruto.
“If this old man uses his sideshows and manages to get a handshake, I will be the one to be asked,” he said.
Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi had earlier shared that Mr Odinga’s presence was due to his relationship with the monarch who was at the State banquet as a guest of King Charles and even received his invitation more than a month prior.
He said, “State House is not Ruto’s home, it is not a UDA office, State House is the property of Kenyans and belongs to Kenya, it does not belong to an individual, everyone has a right to visit. On October 12 … that is when the ambassador invited Raila officially to meet the king. Raila Odinga was not in State House courtesy of the invitation of William Ruto or any UDA people. He was there as a guest of the king, a leader of the opposition, and a friend of the royal family.”
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