"How can Raila be happy with the Handshake when it has does nothing for us in Nyanza?" posed the women. “At least during the coalition government, the fish factories were revived. The nusu mkate [half bread] government delivered some economic dividends. The recent pact seems to have no economic agenda for the urban poor who bore the brunt of police brutality in the last presidential elections.
Africa Uncensored's John-Allan Namu sat down with lawyer Paul Mwangi, one of the architects of the handshake and the joint secretary of one of its offshoots, the Building Bridges Initiative championed by both Mr Odinga and President Kenyatta, to look back on the happenings of March 9th 2018 and what they mean for the country going forward.
Prior to Dr. Odhiambo Mbai’s death, the concept of being a Luo in Kenya, though occupying most of my early childhood, was abstract. I knew we had issues with the government and we were paying a steep communal price for it. My young mind could glean from the heated political discussions in our household that Luos were engaged in perpetual struggle with powers that were perceived to be the Government of Kenya.
The question that has been boggling many Kenyans' minds is: What exactly led to President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga…to suddenly make peace? Was this a spontaneous reaction of two leaders who had suddenly been imbued with an undying desire to save their country, which was on the verge of ethnic and geographical fragmentation?
In the first installment of our new series in collaboration with Africa Uncensored, John-Allan Namu talks with renowned economist Dr David Ndii on the famous handshake between NASA leader Raila Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The now (in) famous March 9, 2018 “handshake” between President Uhuru Kenyatta and the opposition coalition supremo Raila Odinga has ushered in a season of political “handshakes” between presumed antagonists. After Uhuru, Raila shook hands with former Presidents Daniel Toroitich arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki, on April 12 and April 20, when he went calling […]
“Sometimes we wonder, is he protecting Kenyans from Uhuru, or Uhuru from Kenyans?” Hours after my interview with Raila Odinga, I am sitting in the back of a taxi, talking politics with the driver, a long time “Baba” faithful, who makes the above statement with a slight tone of disappointment. It is somewhat simplistic to […]
Despite the talk on the necessity and content of constitutional amendments, there has been little or no discussion on the process to effect legal changes to Kenya’s Constitution. It is a Catch-22 situation. On the one hand, Parliament cannot amend the Constitution without violating it. On the other hand, there is no way the Constitution can be amended without Parliament.
Kisumu city’s landscape, like the bodies of some of its residents, bears the scars of recent political protests and state repression in the aftermath of the August 8 election that was annulled by the Supreme Court and the 26 October “Jubilee election” that was completely ignored by four counties in Kenya’s western region (Homa Bay, […]
Forgive me, comrades If I say something apolitical And shamefully emotional But in the dark of night It is as if my heart is clutched By a giant iron hand: “Treachery, treachery” I cry out Thinking of you, comrades And how you have betrayed The things we suffered for – Dennis Brutus During a 1998 visit […]
On March 9, 2018, at around 1.00 pm, Kenya’s tepid political weather experienced a sudden and powerful jolt when President Uhuru Kenyatta, the country’s elected president, and his political opponent, Raila Odinga, the so-called “People’s President”, were shown walking together and shaking hands on the stairs of Harambee House. The fiercest protagonists of the recent […]
“Every ounce of my cynicism is supported by historical precedent” ~ Glen Cook Before the Friday, March 9, 2018 famous handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and NASA presidential candidate Raila Odinga, Kenyans in opposition were swimming in schadenfreude as the government declared that it was broke. Prior to the nearly comical announcement, the Auditor General declared […]