Is Raila’s Anti-Ruto Agenda Hinged On President’s Failure To Share Govt With Him?
The Mt Kenya Times 
Azimio La Umoja-One Kenya Coalition leader Raila Odinga
By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga
Worth Noting:
- He spoke as members of militant wing, donned in military attire and red berets, flanked and formed a shield around him.
- He made a similar threat in the aftermath of 2007 presidential election. This prompted President Mwai Kibaki’s government to erect perimeter wall around State House. Uhuru Park ground was also closed for one month.
- President Kibaki, who had adopted a hardline stance, would later cede and agreed to talk with him.
- This followed pressure from the international community led by US and Britain. By then, the post-election violence had claimed the lives of 1,333 people and led to destruction of properties worth billions of shillings.
I listened keenly to the interview that the Azimio La Umoja-One Kenya Coalition leader Raila Odinga’s granted recently to one of the mainstream media house.
When he was asked to comment on rumours doing round that he held secret talk with President William Ruto, he responded. This is not true. I have never attended such a meeting.
He explained this is because Dr Ruto was opposed to the talk with him.
If invited, would you attend? He first listed a number of demands.
One of them is that the President must agree to have the servers opened. If these demands are met, I have no problem. We can talk.
Being clever, experienced and cunning politician, one can understand why Raila listed opening of servers as the key demand.
Given Dr Ruto’s previous hardline stances, it was too early for him to believe he would cede the ground.
That is if the meeting took place and the agenda was to lay the grounds of negotiations that would culminate to signing of a ‘ceasefire’
Raila did not want to lose his fanatical and diehard supporters whom he had continued to preach to them the language of resistance and courage.
Some days earlier, he had launched a militant group of jobless youths and given President Ruto a 14-day ultimatum to address his demands failure to which he would call for massive mass action.
Addressing a subsequent rally in Kitale, he was quoted as saying.
When you come to Nairobi, I will give you the marching order.
This will be a ‘peaceful’ procession and it will be guided by the provisions of the constitution.
It will take us to State House where we will present our demands to the President.
He spoke as members of militant wing, donned in military attire and red berets, flanked and formed a shield around him.
He made a similar threat in the aftermath of 2007 presidential election. This prompted President Mwai Kibaki’s government to erect perimeter wall around State House. Uhuru Park ground was also closed for one month.
President Kibaki, who had adopted a hardline stance, would later cede and agreed to talk with him.
This followed pressure from the international community led by US and Britain. By then, the post-election violence had claimed the lives of 1,333 people and led to destruction of properties worth billions of shillings.
Many believed the violence could have been avoided if Kibaki and Raila agreed to swallow thier pride and heed earlier calls to engage in talks aimed at reconciling thier respective supporters.
It is worth to note that Raila had played a similar card after he lost the elections of 2017.
This time, the situation did not deteriorate because President Uhuru Kenyatta moved with speed and embraced him.
The talk culminated to the ‘handshake’ and unveiling of 9-point of shared objectives.
Once he joins the government, Raila’s fight from trenches to ostensibly push the agenda of ‘Wanjiku’ would always come to an end.
For those who know the history of President Ruto, I’m sure they would agree with me.
He is not a leader who can easily cave in to blackmail and intimidation.
So, even if he opts to talk with Raila, he will not do this out of fear.
He can only engage in this discourse if it is meant to further the cause of public interest.
Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a writer and political analyst based in Nairobi
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