Why handshake marked the end of UhuRuto


Handshake

The handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and the opposition chief Raila Odinga has spelled doom for Deputy President William Ruto’s ambition to become the next commander in chief.

The handshake drastically altered the political landscape is not in doubt. Dr Ruto, for instance, is no longer the automatic successor-in-waiting of Kenyatta within Jubilee Party, as had previously been assumed during the 2013 and 2017 electioneering period.

Since the handshake, the President has openly shifted gear to embrace the ODM leader as an ally in government, and indirectly faulted his deputy’s team, now christened “tanga-tanga”, for premature politicking ahead of 2022.

At the turn of this year, during a round table interview in Mombasa, the President curiously mentioned the Opposition leader as an ally in his government while hardly giving his deputy as much as a mention.

“I have engaged Mr Odinga for most of this year (2018). I believe I have a partner who believes in the cause. Ours is a long-term agenda to ensure that we develop a society that is politically inclusive, and that we get a way of doing politics without dividing the country along ethnic lines.”

Mr Odinga appeared to confirm the President’s sentiments when, on Thursday, he defended his engagements with Cabinet Secretaries at his Upper Hill office, saying the unity deal with President Kenyatta “gave birth to shared responsibilities in the running of government”.

Mr Odinga was talking during an interview with a vernacular FM radio station.

The post-handshake era has further witnessed the reorganisation of government operations in the Executive, thanks to the Executive order of January 22, 2019 that handed Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i sweeping powers on the oversight of government programmes.

In his new role, Dr Matiang’i now chairs a key committee on the implementation of development programmes, whose membership includes all Cabinet Secretaries, the Attorney General and the Head of the Public Service.

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