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Raila Odinga

NAIROBI. – Lawmakers allied to Kenya’s main opposition National Super Alliance (NASA) yesterday urged their supporters to boycott products manufactured by companies that have close ties to the ruling Jubilee Party. The lawmakers said at a press briefing in Nairobi that boycott of products and services from those firms seeks to re-invigorate the electoral and administrative reforms in the East African nation.

“Today, we are launching the programme of economic liberation through targeted boycott of companies, corporations and businesses that are beneficiaries and supporters of the current regime,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement. We have a long and comprehensive list of companies, both local and global on our radars and which we will be naming at intervals,” they added.

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga on October 31 announced the formation of a national resistant movement to exert pressure on the government.

Odinga said that economic boycott, picketing and formation of a grassroots movement will underpin his quest for justice in the electoral system as well as political inclusivity. The veteran opposition leader clarified that he will use constitutional and non-violent means to push for his cause. The lawmakers said they intend to put pressure on private enterprises that are friendly to the ruling party to change their political stance and support broad reforms.

Kenya’s political stalemate in the wake of the Supreme Court nullification of presidential election results did not seem to subside after the conclusion of the repeat polls on October 26, where the incumbent president Uhuru Kenyatta won with a landslide. Odinga and his co-principals boycotted the repeat polls, citing lack of a level playing field. Pundits expressed mixed reaction on the announcement of economic boycott by Odinga’s allies but agreed the move could worsen political polarisation in the country. – Xinhua