Ruto, Raila and allies go back on vows to never to work together

President Ruto, opposition leader Raila Odinga and their top allies appear to have made a U-turn on some of the public declarations they made in the run-up to the 2022 General Election and as late as this year, when they vowed in absolute terms never to close ranks.

By incorporating Mr Odinga’s allies in his Kenya Kwanza administration, President Ruto has literally formed “a mongrel of a government system” that he blamed for the failure of former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party to deliver on its development agenda.

Also, by accepting their nomination to the Cabinet, ODM national chairman John Mbadi, nominee for National Treasury and Economic Planning, National Assembly Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi (Energy and Petroleum), Hassan Joho (Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs) and Wycliffe Oparanya (Cooperatives and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Development) seem to have abandoned their strong opposition to Dr Ruto’s administration.

At the height of his falling-out with Mr Kenyatta and in the run-up to the last poll, President Ruto sustained a narrative that it was because of the March 8, 2018 handshake between the former President and Mr Odinga that Jubilee was unable to deliver on its agenda in its second term.

He took the narrative to an internal platform when, during his Chatham House address in London in March 2022, he described the Jubilee administration as “a mongrel”.

“Today in Kenya, we have a mongrel of a government system. You don’t know whether it is the government that is in opposition or the opposition is the one that is in government. The leader of the opposition is a project of the system and the deep state of the government. 

“Unfortunately, the leader of what is supposed to be the ruling party is actually a squatter or a refugee in the opposition party. If we had built our engagements around political parties we wouldn’t have ended up in the situation we are in today where we have opposition members chairing government committees,” said then Deputy President Ruto.

“These protests are not in public interest but intended to advance selfish business interests. I want to tell them to forget about the handshake, and don’t tell us you do not want a handshake. We know you and we can see you,” Dr Ruto said on January 24, 2023.

He has, however, defended himself, reiterating that his move is intended to unite the country and to spur development.

“I have decided that we form a government that will unify all of us so that every Kenyan will now play a part in building the nation. From now onwards, we will all seek ways of raising revenue together and paying our debts. Nobody will be left behind,” he said.

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja on Friday described politics “as an art of the possible, not a battleground of absolutes”.

“At the end of the day, the end justifies what we want to do. All these things we want require political stability that needs bringing everyone on board,” said Mr Sakaja.

UDA Secretary-General Cleophas Malala also defended the change of tune, saying that the current dynamics are different from those of the 2018 handshake.

“We have made the decision because of the emerging issues. People raised governance issues, and it is only fair that everyone is brought on board to help steer the country forward,” said Mr Malala.

“Stop buying members of Parliament as if they’re sheep. If you want many leaders on your side, let them resign and return to the people to be elected and if they win, so be it,” Mr Odinga said on March 29, 2023.

“Stop breaking parties so that you have the majority representation in Parliament. Azimio (la Umoja One Kenya) got 172 seats and Kenya Kwanza got 165 and we won. Now he has bought our leaders saying that they have the majority leaders in the House,” he added.

Kisumu Senator Tom Ojienda, MPs Gideon Ochanda (Bondo), Elisha Odhiambo (Gem), Mark Nyamita (Uriri) and Caroli Omondi (Suba South) are some of the rebel MPs ODM sought to expel for working with the President.

But when Dr Ruto nominated his four party officials to join the Cabinet, Mr Odinga “extended his best wishes to the nominees and trust that they will contribute positively to national development …”

Mr…