Tag: Maina Kiai

A surprise handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga has stirred up Kenyan politics as the long-time rivals set their sights on the 2022 elections. Less than a year since Kenyatta was re-elected to a second and final term in a vote that Odinga called a farce, the two shook hands on March 9 after weeks of secret talks. ALSO READ: Raila, world leaders attend Winnie Mandela funeral They said their rapprochement would mean an end to the violence, bitterness and political instability that followed last year’s elections. For Odinga, it shows he feels he has more bargaining power for himself and his Luo ethnic group as Kenyatta’s partner. Avoid fake news! Text the word 'NEWS' to 22840 “Everybody has had to go back to their drawing board and decide how they are going to run in 2022,” said Ngunjiri Wambugu, a lawmaker from Kenyatta’s Jubilee party, a political alliance between his Kikuyu ethnic group and Ruto’s Kalenjin. They were united ahead of the 2013 vote by Kenyatta in his Jubilee alliance. But few observers believe the truce will resolve the deep-seated ethnic tensions as Kenyatta and Odinga have promised. The Kalenjins may be upset if Kenyatta does not let Ruto take the helm of the alliance with a view to the presidency in 2022. “This will help him to manage Gideon Moi, William Ruto and others with their own presidential ambitions.” ALSO READ: President Uhuru looks into tapping EU market

NAIROBI, Kenya — The two men were political allies. The court ordered a do-over of the polling, which Mr. Kenyatta won. But Mr. Odinga has not accepted the result, and even “inaugurated” himself as “the people’s president” at the end of January. The colonial rulers wanted Mr. Odinga to lead the new Kenya, but Mr. Odinga had other ideas: He demanded Mr. Kenyatta’s freedom — and his appointment as Kenya’s first head of state. “The two men always admired each other.” Willy Mutunga, who was chief justice of the Supreme Court from 2011 to 2016, believes Mr. Odinga was motivated by more than mere admiration. Mr. Kenyatta wanted to sell the British settler lands to Kenyans of means, and to concentrate political power in the presidency. It was banned three years later, and Mr. Odinga was jailed for more than a year. Mr. Moi, who had run the country for 24 years, had groomed Uhuru Kenyatta as his successor, and Raila Odinga picked up his father’s fight after he died in 1994. In that election, Mr. Odinga’s party won, and Mwai Kibaki became president. “He is also the son of the first president, the political protégé of the second president, and the godson of the third president.” Many here say Mr. Kenyatta’s interests look similar to his father’s.