Details have emerged of an exclusive fundraising dinner hosted by Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party presidential candidate Raila Odinga and his running mate Martha Karua on July 15, 2022.
The invite-only even went down at the Safari Park hotel and raised hundreds of millions of shillings for the Azimio campaigns with just three weeks to the August 9, 2022 elections.
In attendance were deep-pocketed politicians, corporate bigshots and private sector tycoons who coughed up as much as Sh10 million during the event.
The Sunday Nation reported that the exclusive Mt Kenya Foundation billionaires club, made up of businessmen from Central Kenya was well represented at the dinner and flexed their financial muscles in favour of the former Prime Minister.
The publication reported that attendees at the event were placed in different categories with those under the corporate category coughing up Sh10 million for 10 guests while guests under the platinum category paid Sh5 million for five guests.
Sh2 million was paid by those in the ‘premier’ category for three guests while those under and the ‘gold’ category paid Sh1 million for two guests.
The dinner was also open to individual guests who parted with Sh500,000 under the ‘silver’ category.
A plate went for Sh1 million with many exceeding the price tag to give Odinga the much-needed finances to secure victory in August.
The Azimio presidential candidate and his running mate were put to task to explain their strategy to fight corruption and create an enabling environment in which businesses can thrive should they win the August elections.
Laikipia Governor Ndiritu Muriithi who is also the head of Odinga’s campaign secretariat confirmed that about 500 guests attended the dinner under the various categories, with the event having run from about 6:00 p.m. and ended at 11:00 p.m.
Hinting at the hundreds of millions raised, a senior Azimio official told the press: “I’m not authorised to talk about the total money raised but let me ask you, if one person could bring Sh10 million, what would 500 people bring?”
Guests who attended the fund raiser
The Friday night fundraiser held at Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi attracted deep-pocketed politicians and private sector tycoons mostly drawn from the Mt Kenya Foundation, a billionaires club patronised by businessmen from Central Kenya.
Some notable guests at the event included the Mt Kenya Foundation chairperson Peter Munga, Royal Media Services owner S.K Macharia, former Commissioner General of Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Mr John Njiraini, Centum Investment chief executive officer James Mworia, chairman of the Nairobi Securities Exchange Mr Kiprono Kittony and businessman Sam Wakiaga.
The political class had Governors Muriithi (Laikipia), Charity Ngilu (Kitui), Anne Kananu (Nairobi), Cornel Rasanga (Siaya), James Ongwae (Kisii), Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya, Azimio executive director Raphael Tuju and former Cabinet minister Fred Gumo.
Also present were senior counsel, Prof Tom Ojienda, lawyer Jackson Awele and anti-graft crusader John Githongo, who delivered the headline speech. Mr Githongo, known for whistleblowing on major corruption scandals during the late President Mwai Kibaki’s administration, talked extensively about graft and how the Azimio government could escalate the war against theft of public funds should it form the next government.
Read: Uhuru’s men throw their weight behind Raila bid for State House
Speeches were reportedly restricted at the dinner, with only Mr Githongo speaking before inviting Ms Karua, who then invited Mr Odinga to make his remarks. The brief speeches were followed by a question and answer session for the pair.
