Gospel artist Ben Githae has come clean on why he stood with Azimio leader Raila Odinga in the 2022 presidential elections.
At the time, Odinga’s candidature was endorsed by the then President Uhuru Kenyatta who was completing his second term in office.
Githae spoke on TV47’s Dr Ofweneke Tonight hosted every Wednesday at 7:30pm.
He admits that it was a tough period for him as majority of Mt Kenya residents supported President William Ruto and not Raila Odinga, leading him to be termed a betrayer in his background.
“There is no way I would have ditched Raila Odinga for William Ruto’s UDA in the last elections because through him our Skiza tune proposal passed in Parliament and many artists are benefitting from that today,” he began.
The gospel artist revealed that he met Odinga through S.K Macharia, owner of Royal Media Services. Accompanied by his fellow artist Sir James, they submitted a proposal pertaining to better Skiza tune terms.
Githae appreciated that the former Prime Minister’s influence led to a breakthrough with the Bill which eventually passed in Parliament, benefitting many artists in Kenya since.
He confidently claimed through his campaign theme song “Ndani ndani to the State House, mlima wote Baba tosha”, he made a significant impact in getting Baba (Raila) the votes he much needed in Mt Kenya.
“I am the one who helped Baba (Raila) gain a lot of votes in Mt Kenya. Overall there was only a difference of 200,000 votes. Without me probably the gap would have been over one million votes,” Githae added.
However, the artist admits his woes in Mt Kenya began prior to the 2022 elections. Githae curated Uhuru-Ruto’s 2017 campaign song themed “Uhuru Ruto Tano Tena” which went viral.
When things got tough economically afterwards, Kenyans were reportedly quick to blame him.
“People blamed me a lot for the problems they faced during Uhuru-Ruto’s second term in office. I remember during the COVID-19 period when people would be arrested during curfew hours, I was insulted all the time, but I remained strong.”
He disclosed that the situation became worse with the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) initiated by Uhuru and Raila in 2021. BBI received much resistance particularly from Mt Kenya, putting Githae on the spot.
Githae now says he has been ‘redeemed’ after the current administration ‘failed’ to deliver its campaign promises to Kenyans.
“The way people are missing and looking for Uhuru Kenyatta is the same way they are looking for me and telling me now things are worse,” he added, smiling.
