NASA leader Raila Odinga suffered a major blow on Saturday after President Kenyatta declined his invitation to the Handshake anniversary that was held at Nairobi’s Serena Hotel.
According to State house sources, the former Prime Minister made several calls to Statehouse on Friday evening requesting to talk to the head of state but wasn’t successful since the President was holed up in several meetings until late in the night.
“Yes, we can confirm that Raila called statehouse but did not manage to speak with the President who was very busy. He dropped his message to the handlers who later delivered it to the President” a source said.
It is understood that Raila wanted to visit Statehouse early Saturday morning where they would head to the venue in a convoy with the President.
“When he called, he told us that he wanted an appointment with the President on Saturday morning before proceeding to the venue where he had organized for the handshake anniversary”
But on receiving the message, President Uhuru rejected the invitation which he said had come on short notice.
A communication was however not made to the NASA leader who was in Mombasa.Raila who jetted into Nairobi early Saturday morning expected that he would head to statehouse and meet the President before going to the venue.
Word has it that the president is not happy with the way Raila has been handling his deputy president and his sinister motive of trying to rock Jubilee from within.
Raila has been running a negative campaign against Dr William Ruto since the March 9 handshake. He has been accusing the Deputy President for being corrupt something which the Presidency is not happy about.
“The President is very concerned about how Raila has taken advantage of the handshake to accuse his Administration of corruption” statehouse source said.