Ruto, Raila and allies backtrack on vows to never cooperate

President Ruto, opposition leader Raila Odinga and their key allies appear to have walked back some of their public declarations earlier this year that they would not unite ahead of the 2022 general elections.

Ruto said that by incorporating Odinga’s allies into the Kwanzaa Kenya administration, he had literally created a “hybrid system of government” and blamed it for the failure of former president Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party to deliver on its development agenda.

Also, ODM National Chairman John Mbadi, candidate for National Finance and Economic Planning, National Assembly Minority Leader Opiyo Wandai (Energy and Petroleum), Hassan Joho (Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime) and Wycliffe Oparanyah (Cooperatives, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Development) appear to have abandoned their hardline opposition to Dr Ruto’s administration by accepting their nominations to Cabinet.

As the rift with Kenyatta reached its peak and the last election loomed, President Ruto increasingly believed that the handshake between the former president and Odinga on March 8, 2018 had led to the Jubilee Party’s failure to deliver on its policies in a second term.

He carried the story onto his internal platform in a speech at Chatham House in London in March 2022, describing the Jubilee government as a “mongrel”.

“Currently, Kenya has a hybridized system of government. It is not clear whether the government is the opposition or the opposition is in power. The opposition leaders are deep state projects of the system and the government.”

“Unfortunately, the head of what is supposed to be the governing party is actually an opposition squatter or refugee. If we had built engagement around political parties, we would not be in a situation today where we have opposition MPs chairing government committees,” then-Deputy President Ruto said.

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

But he defended himself, reiterating that his actions were intended to unite the country and promote development.

“I am determined to form a government that brings all Kenyans together so that every Kenyan has a role to play in building the nation. Now we will all find ways to raise revenue and pay down the debt. No one will be left behind,” he said.

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

“At the end of the day, what we want to do is justified by the results. Everything we want requires political stability, which requires everyone’s cooperation,” Sakaca said.

UDA secretary-general Cleophas Malala also defended the change in attitude, saying the situation now is different to that of the 2018 handshake event.

“We have taken this decision as new issues have emerged. People have raised the issue of governance and it is only natural that we all join together to take the country forward,” Malala said.

“Stop buying off MPs like sheep. If you want to get more leaders on your side, just get them to step down and go before the people and get elected,” Odinga said on March 29, 2023.

“Stop dividing parties to get majority in parliament. Azimio (La Umoja One Kenya) got 172 seats and Kenya Kwanza got 165 seats and we won. Now he has bought our leadership and is claiming majority in parliament,” he added.

Kisumu Senator Tom Ojienda, MPs Gideon Ochanda (Bond), Elisha Odhiambo (Gem), Mark Nyamita (Uliri) and Karoli Omondi (Suva South) are some of the rebel MPs whom ODM had sought to expel for allegedly collaborating with the president.

But when Dr Ruto nominated the four party leaders to join his cabinet, Odinga said he “wishes them well and is confident they will contribute positively to the development of the nation”.

Odinga also made it clear at the height of opposition-led protests that he was not interested in making a political deal with the president.

“They say we love demonstrations and they want handshakes, but I am here today saying I want nothing to do with handshakes,” Odinga told a rally at Kamukunji grounds.

“Those people should leave me alone. I am not a hardliner, I am just saying what my boss wants. The people don’t want a handshake, or do you? Even if he (Raila) goes on the streets and riots, hoping the president will invite him for a handshake, it’s not going to happen. I will roam the presidential compound so that this Mzee can find me when he tries to sneak in through the back door,” he said at the height of opposition protests last year.

Mr Gachagua, who visited Nanyuki in Laikipia County on Friday, voiced his support for the agreement between Dr Ruto and Mr Odinga. He said a “broad-based” government would improve efficiency and service delivery.

“I’ve seen a lot of people and all kinds of analyses on who won and who lost, but overall it’s a victory for the Kenyan people. There are even more fools trying to use this situation to settle political scores with people they don’t support and to shift the blame,” Gachagua said.

Oparanya, who will join President Ruto’s cabinet if approved by parliament, had said just before the last election that he would rather remain a farmer than work with President Ruto.

“I have never thought or imagined that I could join the Kenya Kwanzaa Alliance. You know those guys have a different ideology to the one we stand for. If I end up joining them and that is the only option, I would rather retire and go back home and become a farmer,” Oparanya said on February 11, 2022. He made the remark following rumours that he is teaming up with Dr Ruto in the elections.

Joho has in the past accused President Ruto of corruption and vowed never to work with him.

“I would never dream of negotiating with Mr Ruto. What will he give me? A wheelbarrow? Something I used to play with as a child?” Joho said in the undated video.

However, speaking about his nomination, Joho said in a statement: “It is with great humility and deep gratitude that I accept President William Ruto’s nomination.”

Mbadi has also criticised Kenya’s Kwanzaa government for excessively taxing Kenyans.

“I agree that the debt level is unmanageable but the mistake the government is making is thinking that it can collect more taxes from Kenyans by increasing taxes. The moment you start attacking people’s salaries, they will stop spending,” Mbadi said.

In October 2022, Mbadi said Parliament should reject most of President William Ruto’s cabinet nominees as they were incompetent.

“We need to make a decision to either reject over 60 per cent of these names or give President Ruto the skunk. We will not interfere in that. We will give it to him,” Mbadi said.