Hon Raila Odinga is making giant steps in changing the perception of Kenyan politics. In what was seen as a rivalry relationship is turning out to be a cordial relationship.
ODM leader Raila Odinga held a brief meeting with two of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s prominent cousins at his Capitol Hill offices on Wednesday.
Last weekend, Raila, whose family had been at loggerheads with that of founding President Jomo Kenyatta since 60s, separately met President Uhuru Kenyatta and his younger brother Muhoho Kenyatta in Kisumu.
And Senator Beth Mugo, a veteran politician who served the larger Dagoretti constituency along with her brother Ngengi Muigai, met Raila with details of their meeting remaining scanty.
“I was happy to catch up with longtime friends senator Beth Mugo and Mr Ngengi Muigai.
“The three of us have a long history dating back to the struggle for multiparty politics and a new constitution in the 1990s,” Raila wrote on his twitter after the meeting that is said to have lasted for one hour.
Mr Muigai, just like Mrs Mugo, is son to Mr James Muigai, Jomo Kenyatta’s only known brother. James Muigai, in addition, was the first African student at the prestigious Alliance High School which started in 1926.
Further, Muigai, who along his other brother Captain Kungu Muigai play a major role behind scenes in Uhuru’s presidency, inherited Jomo Kenyatta’s Gatundu seat in 1978 upon the latter’s death.
The larger Kenyatta family under Uhuru’s mother Mama Ngina Kenyatta and his uncle Muhoho Kenyatta, are said to have played a key role in uniting Uhuru and Raila after five years of political fireworks.
Raila’s father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga served as Kenyatta’s first Vice President but the pair acrimoniously fellout in 1966 due to ideological differences.