By Wilfridah Murenga
Opposition leader Raila Odinga has declared his support for one man, one vote, one shilling model advocated by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
Speaking on Thursday, during a press briefing after holding a meeting with the delegation that came from the Limuru III conference led by Secretary General of Jubilee party Jeremiah Kioni, Mr. Odinga affirmed his support for the campaign.
The “one man, one vote, one shilling” model refers to a system that seeks to ensure equitable distribution of resources and representation based on population size. It aims to address historical imbalances and disparities in resource allocation across different regions of the country.
The Azimio Coalition leader stated that we as a country fought very hard to bring a new constitution that allows for freedom of expression and association but it is still a work in progress.
He named devolution as one of the main areas that still lacks highlighting that devolution is about equity in the sharing of resources in our country, not equality.
”In devolution, we talked about equity in the sharing of resources in our country, not equality. That means we take count of the number of people while sharing resources,” Raila said.
He added that the issue of resource allocation in the country was extensively discussed during the meeting.
“One of the discussions in Limuru III was the issue of resource sharing in the country, somehow this issue has been misrepresented as if it is discriminating against some parts of the country,” he added.
Odinga highlighted discrepancies within the government-funded bursary scheme, stating that it unfairly benefits children from certain regions while neglecting others and that this is the reason why they proposed the BBI.
“This is a conversation that if we have openly, we will be able to convince majority of our people that that is the right way to go and that is why we had proposed it in the BBI. We want to ensure that each and every Kenyan is treated and that is why we agree with this ‘one man, one vote, one shilling,” he said.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has been a vocal proponent of this model, emphasizing the need for a fair and just allocation of resources that reflects the actual population distribution in the country.
When asked if he will work with the deputy president by one of the journalists he asserted that he will work with anyone for the sake of Kenyans, including DP Rigathi Gachagua.