President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga today celebrate the fourth anniversary of a truce that, against all odds, forestalled a looming civil war.
The anniversary comes exactly five months to a general election to pick Kenya’s fifth president.
The historic handshake between the two bitter political rivals toned down the fever pitch political temperature in a country then fragmented by another presidential election results dispute.
The election had been nullified by the Supreme Court and a repeat poll ordered.
While a majority of Kenyans, investors and the international community welcomed the handshake, Deputy President William Ruto and his supporters read malice in the unprecedented reconciliation in an African country.
Ruto was, and remains, suspicious of the March 9, 2018, welcome of the ODM leader into what came to be known as the Building Bridges Initiative in a country wracked by ethnic division and incessant rivalry crystallised by the reintroduction of competitive politics 30 years ago.
Visible bitterness beyond cure is exhibited by Ruto and a handful of ruling party rebels who are notorious at hurling insults at rivals instead of selling party policies at public rallies.
The second in command reiterates that the handshake was just but a ploy to lock him out of the Jubilee Party nomination and eventual ascendancy to the throne in five months. Indeed he has locked himself out of the party nomination by absconding duty, the Jubilee National Delegates Convention said as much when the Deputy President and fellow rebels were replaced in a restructuring exercise.
For four years, Ruto has been on the succession campaign trail on a new political outfit, the United Democratic Alliance, which he will use against rivals including the Kenyatta-backed Azimio la Umoja Movement. Raila is the undisputed flagbearer of a coalition of parties, including among others Jubilee and ODM.
The fathers of these political buddies, Jomo Kenyata, a Kikuyu, and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, a Luo, were not the best of friends after Independence in the then ruling party Kanu.
Jaramogi was Kenyatta’s choice of deputy when Kenya became a republic in 1964. Today, political brokers and merchants expected the yesteryear ideological and tribal differences to play out in the newfound unity initiative.
Given the usual breaches of verbal and written political agreements, many Kenyans across the divide doubted the survival of the handshake to this date. But Uhuru and Raila have proved pessimists and doomsday prophets wrong. The handshake survived the behind the scenes intrigues and manipulations to keep the country united.
Despite the differences between their fathers and communities, Uhuru and Raila rose above chauvinistic interests and put the interests of the nation ahead of their communities to restore the country’s waning glory.
For the national gesture, Uhuru paid a heavier price than Raila. He lost a number of political supporters to Ruto and other outfits but if it is for the common good, so be it.
Freelance journalist. paminao@ yahoo.com
