By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The alliance led by Kenyan presidential candidate Raila Odinga has said it will come down hard on corruption if it wins in August, his running mate Martha Karua said.
She however dismissed her nickname “Iron Lady” as a sexist trope directed at tough women leaders.
“Strong leadership in women is seen as an exception and not the norm because I haven’t heard of an ‘iron man’,” the 64-year-old former justice minister told Reuters in an interview.
Karua and veteran opposition leader Odinga, who heads the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Alliance coalition, are facing off with Deputy President William Ruto and first time lawmaker Rigathi Gachagua, in an election on August 9.
The election is seen as a key test for stability for East Africa’s biggest economy. Two of its three last elections were marred by violence, amid disputes over alleged rigging.
Since Karua’s selection as his running mate, Odinga has overtaken opponent, William Ruto in opinion polls. A Radio Africa poll, published on June 13, put Odinga ahead with 44.6% of voters favouring him against 38.9% for Ruto.
In his campaign Ruto has largely focused on economic inequality, pledging to lift up Kenya’s poorest whom he calls “hustlers”.
Karua, who would be Kenya’s first female deputy president if elected, said Azimio’s priority once in power would be to stamp out corruption, which is estimated to cost the government a third of its budget every year, about 800 billion shillings ($6.83 billion).
She said the funds lost each year would be enough to fund her coalition’s plan to offer direct monthly support to 2 million of Kenya’s poorest people.
“Corruption is strangling or choking the nation,” she said at her NARC-Kenya party office.
