ODM Party leader Raila Odinga has been trending today – and not for something a bit weird. A p**to of him in a youthful attire – which includes a blue jeans pair of trouser, white top and matching jacket as well as special sports s***s – has been the talk of town.
Raila, known politically as ‘Baba’, has over the past year been looking frail in what is believed to be the effects of age and the bout of Covid-19 that hit him in March this year. So Kenyans were understandably excited to see him take a pious look with a youthful stance.
Later in the day, focus zeroed in on the s***s, precisely the cost of the sky-blue Nike sneakers. According to online research by city lawyer senior counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi, the pair of s***s may have cost the ODM presidential candidate nearly half a m***ion Kenyan sh***ings.
“My day was good…ALHAMDULILAH,” Ahmednasir wrote on Twitter, appearing to mock the cost of the s***s. “…But baba beat me 10: ZERO…at Ksh419,467…even that is kidogo (a little) above my budget!”
Raila had step*** out with a spring to meet hundreds Kenyan youths from Mount Kenya Region at the University of Nairobi. He explained that the pair of s***s was donated to him by two Kenyan young men identif*** only as Ali and H***ary. “Baba’s **use w*** have many rooms; I have reserved the biggest one for our youth,” Raila said.
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The pair of s***s is understood to be the Nike X Off-white Air Jordan 1. According to Farfetch, which is retailing the s*** online, this is the third edition of the monumental Off-White X Air Jordan 1, Virgil Abloh focused on the “UNC” colourway of Michael Jordan’s first signature s***. “The high-top pair features the iconic white and Carolina blue leather upper inspired by the University of North Carolina,” the website says. “The colours are complemented by Abloh’s deconstructed aesthetic and signature details such as a red zip tie.”
Some Kenyans responded to the price tag with a satirical touch. Mohamed Welihye said: “Baba never buys. The children do. An overexcited con****uous consumer kid bought Baba this ostentatious goods! That could be @DonaldBKipkorir.
And @kipkiruibernard notes: And Baba is promising unemployed youths 6K each month? Wait, 419,467.05 ÷ 6,000 = 69 months; kiatu pekee ni (the s*** only is) salary for an unemployed youth for roughly 6 years. Baba w*** have finished his first term already.@
Another Twitter use calling himself Id Amini Ruto did more research and came with a lower price version of the s***s. He explained that the Raila Odinga’s s*** is the “low cut” and not the Hightown that was shared by Ahmednasir.
With the exact specifications of the s*** Raila was wearing unavailable, it is hard to verify the price. Various Kenyans shared similar versions of the s*** with different prices, an indication of differences in quality.
Nonetheless, that price-tag has drawn interest from a cross section of Kenyans and is bound to remain a topic of discussion and fun-poking for sometime as the different political divides use it to score points or settle scores. It may hurt Raila that he is wearing such an expensive pair of s*** while campaigning on a platform of ******** poverty among youth and unemployed **use**lds.
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Wacheni Baba Raila aitwe Baba. No one else in Kenya