Businessman and Safina Party leader Jimi Wanjigi has disclosed why he parted ways with ODM party leader Raila Odinga during the 2022 general elections.

Speaking during an interview with KTN News on Sunday January 21, Wanjighi said he did not support Raila in 2022 because Raila had chosen former President Uhuru Kenyatta as a political partner and advisor. 

According to Wanjigi, there was no way Raila working with Uhuru would improve Kenya’s economy, considering the economic challenges Kenyans experienced under the Uhuru Kenyatta regime.

“When you talk about the divisions we might have had in 2022 because you are calling him a foe, he was not a foe, he just chose a partner called Uhuru Kenyatta which I could not reconcile with in terms of how that was the future of Kenya,” said Wanjigi.

“This is where we had a problem and this problem started soon after the 2017 election,” he added. 

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Wanjigi added that he supported Raila up to the time he was sworn in as the people’s president on January 30, 2018, but he felt betrayed when Raila went for a handshake with Uhuru Kenyatta in March 2018.

The Safina party leader claimed that by having Raila as the people’s president, they had put him above the constitution of Kenya, but he chose a handshake with Uhuru Kenyatta who was not as powerful as Raila at that time.

“We parted on that scope. We did not see why he went to a President of the Republic of Kenya when he was even above him,” Wanjigi said.

“You need to understand the context of the people’s president. When people elevate somebody to the people’s president, he is above the principle of the land. We said the constitution is not being followed, the laws are not being followed, so the people have taken it into their own hands as they can, and elevated Raila to the people’s president.”

Wanjigi explained that their next step after the mock swearing in was to put strategies in place to ensure Raila takes over the leadership of the country but he disappointed them by choosing Uhuru as a partner. 

READ ALSO: Businessman Jimi Wanjigi confronts President Ruto over biting poverty

However, he noted that despite parting ways with Raila in 2022, they have always been friends for a very long time.

He recalled that their friendship dates back to 1991 when they knew each other.

Meanwhile, after disagreeing with Raila in 2022, Wanjigi launched his presidential bid but was not cleared by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). 

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According to the IEBC, the Safina party, whose presidential candidate was Jimi Wanjigi, did not meet all the requisite requirements to participate in the presidential elections.

Wanjigi’s revelation emerged a few days after he held a meeting with Raila Odinga in preparation for the 2027 presidential elections.

Raila held a meeting with Wanjigi on January 9, 2024 that addressed a possibility of a fresh alliance with the Safina party ahead of the 2027 elections.