Tag: Raila Odinga

The more President Uhuru Kenyatta tells Jubilee Party members and leaders to quit speculating about his succession, the more political talk escalates. Last Thursday, the President threatened to sack Cabinet secretaries involved in politics. The warning came just a few days after Laikipia woman representative Catherine Waruguru told a public gathering attended by Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri in Nyahururu that the former Grand National Union leader was fit to play kingpin for the Mt Kenya region once President Kenyatta exited the scene. In an apparent effort to pacify supporters of Deputy President William Ruto that their man will not be short-changed in the Building Bridges and "Handshake" politics, Mr Muhoho urged calm in the face of proposals to change the Constitution to disperse executive Presidential powers to additional offices. Using cryptic Kikuyu and Biblical idioms, he said: “Kaba andu maingihe, nyama inyihe (its better to have more people in a feast than more meat and few people).” Reaching out to the opposition to look for lost sheep did not mean the President had abandoned the sheep he already had at home, added the former Catholic priest and scholar. During the event in Othaya, home to retired President Mwai Kibaki, former Principal Secretary and newly installed DP deputy party leader Irungu Nyakera was publicly introduced by former Othaya MP Mary Wambui. Though Mr Nyakera may not have national leadership ambitions as yet, his installation as DP deputy party leader has been viewed as part of plans in refurbishing the outfit in readiness for succession politics horse trading in the event that internal tensions inside Jubilee Party escalated into a fallout ahead of 2022 general election. Already, the Democratic Party has waded into Nairobi politics after it emerged that it had issued a nomination certificate to businessman Rameshchandra Govino Gorasi as its candidate for the forthcoming by-election in Embakasi South constituency, following an announcement by Jubilee that it would not field a candidate. Mr Gorisa was the owner of Taj Mall (renamed Airgate Mall) that was demolished by the government last September after it was found to have been built on a road reserve. Another development likely to fuel more political excitement in the Mt Kenya region is the announcement by the Party of National Unity (PNU) that it would hold a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on Tuesday to set dates for party elections to fill vacant and disputed positions.

President Uhuru Kenyatta, his Deputy President William Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga have moved to calm the rising political temperatures in the country by calling for an end to divisive politics. In the past few weeks, Ruto’s allies have gone ballistic over claims Raila was using the handshake with President Kenyatta to sideline and block him from the Uhuru succession race. “We have been through very dark and trying times and we wouldn’t wish to go back there. “When I said I was leading the nation to Canaan, I meant materialising our dreams as contained in the national anthem which prays for peace, stability and plenty within our borders, that is what a Canaan is,” he said. SEE ALSO :Stop stalking us and give Kenyans a break from your 2022 obsession He asked the church to not relent in the push for good governance and equality. And in a thinly-veiled attack on senior politicians being linked to corruption, Raila told the church not top accept harambee donations and gifts from leaders whose names had been mentioned in corruption reports. Ruto, who received a warm welcome from the congregation, said the place of divisive and ethnic politics had been taken over by focus on development goals and nation building. “We want to build the country into one united family focused on service to all and the creation of opportunity for all, especially women and the youth,” said the DP. Ford Kenya leader Moses Wetang’ula and Kisumu Senator Fred Outa added their voices to the calls for an end to early politics. During the mass held at Uzima University grounds in Mamboleo, DP Ruto and Raila could be seen occasionally talking although their body languages betrayed a psychological rift between them.

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.