In a concerted effort which political pundits say could be a psychological war targeted at the Deputy President, on January 23 Raila met with two of Uhuru’s cousins – nominated senator Beth Mugo and her brother Ngengi Muigai – at his Capitol Hill office.
Details of what they discussed during the closed door meeting have remained highly guarded. Before the handshake, Mugo, the veteran city politician, was a chief critic of Raila.
“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 posted on his twitter handle after the meeting.
The AU High Representative for Infrastructure Development has since the truce met several close associates of the Jubilee administration in the spirit of Building Bridges.
While Raila has been keen to defuse talk of his possible candidature in 2022, his lieutenants, including Siaya Senator James Orengo, have repeatedly said Raila will make a fifth stab at the top job.
Orengo and company are believed to be flying kites for the ODM chief.
They live in the hope Uhuru will endorse him.
“Mambo ya 2022 ni mambo ya Mungu lakini tunaona dalili nyingine hapo wewe ndio unajua, mimi sitaki niulizwe. Muheshimiwa Ruto amesema ako hapo katikati lakini wewe unajua, wewe unajua.(It is only God who knows about the 2022 race but we have seen the signs that only you (Uhuru) know. I don’t want to be asked…Ruto has said now he is in between you and Raila but it is only you who knows),” Orengo said during Uhuru’s tour of Nyanza region last month.
Raila and his allies are pushing for a referendum to mend the Constitution and create the position of a powerful prime minister and a ceremonial president.
ODM has made radical recommendations to the Building Bridges Initiative task force – a team that was put up jointly by Uhuru and Raila after the handshake team.
The proposals include a single seven-year term for the head of state
The Building Bridges task force has started public hearings across the country and its final report could alter the country’s political terrain ahead of the 2022 General Election.
On the other hand, Ruto’s close ally Duale has maintained that Uhuru will not only support Ruto’s 2022 bid but will be the campaign manager.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is torn between sticking to the pre-2013 political deal with Deputy President William Ruto and supporting ODM party leader Raila Odinga.
He is under immense pressure from some of his kitchen cabinet and the family to abandon Ruto and craft a new political arrangement with his two-time rival turned ally Raila with whom he entered a deal through the now famous handshake last March.
Will Uhuru support Raila?