Opposition chief, Raila Odinga on Friday entered his fourth handshake in a controversial but historic moment mirroring similar moves with former Presidents; Daniel Moi (2001) the third President the late Mwai Kibaki, former President Uhuru Kenyatta (2018) and now the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with President William Ruto.

Raila’s working arrangement with Moi was known as the cooperation agreement following a deal hammered after the 10997 election where he contested the election, emerged third and propped up Moi’s government while opposition colleagues wanted to kick out Kanu through courts and street protests.

In 2008, Raila joined the government through the grand coalition government. This was after a a disputed polls where he contested Mwai KIbaki’s win resulting in widespread violence that  almost brought Kenya to the brink after over  1,000 people died.

Ten years later in 2018, Raila shook hands with Uhuru and the Jubilee administration morphed into a handshake government and the yesterday’s events that led to the signing of the UDA-ODM framework agreement formalized the broad based government between him and the President.

Yesterday, Raila beamed with joy at Kenyatta International Convention Centre, a venue he had prepared in 2022 to celebrate his win but had to beat a hasty retreat after Ruto was announced the winner. He contested the win in courts and in the streets but to no avail.

Although Raila yesterday denied that his MOU with Ruto did not define the formation of a political coalition between his party ODM and UDA, he stressed the deal’s successful implementation ‘could inform the basis of steps towards establishment of a broad constituted and progressive formation for a stable country in future.’

“We urge all Kenyans who are interested in having a stable inclusive and progressive contrary devoid of grandstanding and alienation of whole communities and regions to rally behind this formation in the interest of the nation,” Raila said yesterday.

In 2018, the ODM leader denied claims that his handshake with Uhuru could result into a political formation but it later birthed Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) that attempted to change the 2010 constitution and later the formation of the Azimio coalition under the chairmanship of Uhuru with Raila becoming the coalition’s 2022 Presidential candidate.

His entry into Uhuru’s good books caused political upheaval, saw the alienation of Uhuru’s deputy president William Ruto, and ultimately earned his endorsement by the outgoing president to slug it out with the ruling party.

  It was on the shoulders of this coalition with Uhuru that Raila rode during the presidential polls but failed.  He swiftly drifted away from Azimio, allying him to the Ruto who ultimately backed him as Kenya’s candidate in the just concluded but unsuccessful Africa Union chairmanship chair.

Yesterday’s MOU underscored that the country had gone through a period of political crisis and conflict that the MOU stated ‘hampered the nation’s potential of development and improving the livelihoods of our people.”

The Mou stated that the crisis had resulted in demonstrations by the people demanding their rights with the state often resulting in brutal

The MOU signed by Ruto and Raila saw the two leaders commit to collaborate and co-operate with each other by conducting broad based consultations between themselves on the full implementation of the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO) report inclusivity, strengthening devolution, fight against corruption, stopping wastage of public resources and promoting government efficiency.

“Kenya belongs to all persons regardless of their ethnicity, religion, generation, or geographic location. All Kenyans are equal and all are entitled to an equitable budgetary resource allocation and opportunities in public appointments,” the MOU read in part.

 The report noted that “KKenyans are concerned by the expression of opulence accompanied by rude and arrogant conduct by public officers and the apparent impunity that has followed the same. It must be enforced that the demeanour of public servants needs to reflect the dignity of the office and the respect owed by them to the citizens of Kenya.

The MOU addressed the right to peaceful assembly under Article 37 and compensation of all pending claims of abuse of derogation of this right.

“Derogation of the right to peaceful assembly and protest remains one of the shameful realities of the excesses of Kenya’s law and order responses since independence. The effort to uphold this right must now involve not just the taking of responsibility by officers who break the law but also by the compensation of the victims of these derogations,” the MOU read in part.

 Ruto and Raila committed to adhere to the rule of law requiring the government and its officers to obey court orders and only challenge the validity of judicial pronouncements through legal processes.

“The spectre of abductions and extra-judicial killings do not bode well for democracy. Suppression of constitutional freedoms including free speech, expression, assembly and media must stop.” it said in part.

In what demonstrated that the two will share power, they agreed to hold regular consultations on pressing issues of interest to the people of Kenya, exchanging expertise and information on best practices in the governance of the Republic of Kenya and deploying their political infrastructure to examine the above matters and any other issues requiring their attention and shall engage the necessary expertise that will assist them address matters arising.

Already Raila has five Cabinet Secretary slots in Ruto’s administration. The cabinet secretaries are  John Mbado (Treasury) Hassan Joho (Mining and Blue Economy (Opiyo Wandayi (Treasury) Wycliffe Oparanya (Cooperatives) and Beatrice Askul (EAC).

Ruto also told Raila that he would do everything within his power to ensure that he is respected both locally and internationally, saying that all peers, juniors and seniors should acknowledge Raila’s contributions that span across generations.

“Several months after the elections, I told him he has been my party leader, I’d want him to be treated well. I will do whatever it takes to make sure you have respect in Kenya. I am not doing this for any selfish reasons, it is because you’re my senior and your contributions deserve respect,” he said

Ruto added “We will raise and manage national resources responsibly to reduce our debt burden by ensuring transparency, responsible borrowing, and an audit of past debts. We will fight corruption decisively, eliminate public resource wastage, and uphold the rule of law and constitutionalism, ensuring that government officials respect judicial decisions and protect the rights of all citizens.”

In his first handshake deal with Moi that shocked the country, Raila had first vied for Presidency in 1997 and finished third after Moi and Kibaki who had vied through the Democratic party. The deal that started as cooperation, graduated into merger ended abruptly months to the general election. At the time, Raila had some of his minsters in government. Besides serving on the energy docket from 2001 to 2002, he was also made Kanu’s secretary general but was denied the party ticket , creating friction that saw him and his colleagues among them Kalonzo Musyoka bolt out.  

Raila was appointed Minister for Energy position he held from June 2001 to the last quarter of 2002 when Moi revealed that his preferred candidate for the New Kanu 2022 Presidential contest was Uhuru Kenyatta. Raila resigned on October 13 2002 on the eve of the New Kanu meeting in Kasarani Nairobi in an event when Moi officially announced Uhuru as his choice of a successor.

Other than being made the Minister, Raila was also joined as New Kanu secretary General in effect sidelining Joseph Kamotho who had held the position for many years.

The second deal    2007 post-election skirmishes in a deal that was negotiated by the former United Nations Secretary General Koffi Annan leading the National Accord Act that saw him get the Prime Minister slot becoming the second Prime Minister after the country’s founding father Mzee Jomo Kenyatta.

In March 2018, another handshake came knocking after the 2017 polls, this time between Raila and Uhuru. The two leaders built a close working relationship that in the process sidelined President Ruto then Deputy President.

 The handshake also led to a big split in Uhuru’s Jubilee Party, causing a large faction of MPs allied to Ruto to break away and form United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party.

The Uhuru-Raila pact saw Ruto describe Uhuru as a squatter in the opposition party, running an administration that is a ‘mongrel of a government system’.

 “Today the leader of the opposition is a project of the system and the deep state of government. The leader of what is supposed to be the ruling party is a squatter in the opposition party and because of that we believe we must build our politics behind institutions and not individuals,” said Ruto during his opening remarks at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in the UK.

According to Ruto, the process towards the formulation and issuance of Executive Order No.1 of 2020 that massively affected the operation of his office, was set in motion after they were sworn- in following their highly contested victory over the National Super Alliance (NASA) – then led by Uhuru’s ‘handshake’ partner.

As it were in other political pacts, the power dynamics changed and Ruto-Raila cooperation is also expected to inform the balance of power with some leaders such as the Deputy President Prof Kithure Kindiki and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi being seen as the possible victims of Raila’s inclusion in government.

This was regardless of Kindiki’s assertion yesterday that Ruto and Raila were courageous due to their cooperation  

“Therefore, our coming here to witness this decision is a testament that the future of Kenya looks great courtesy of the decisions that the two of you have made,” he said, saying that uniting political forces for the common good was a rare but necessary act of leadership.

 “If you were individualistic and selfish, you would have chosen to exercise your muscles one against the other on opposite sides of politics and, in the process, you may have succeeded in undercutting one another. But in the process, you would have succeeded a great deal in undermining one another on the development of our country,” he said.

Mudavadi was conspicuously missing at the historic event and supported the MOU while in Nakuru emphasizing that ‘at times national interests must take precedence over individual agendas.

The Raila-Ruto deal will also change the political landscape of the emerging Opposition coalition between Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and PLP leader Martha Karua who had wished Raila to join their political camp.

Yesterday Kalonzo reacted “what has come out of KICC today is the biggest betrayal of Kenyans, the people’s loyal coalition will never betray Kenyans for temporary comfort.”