Handshake meeting off as Raila taken ill, told to go into isolation

An aide to ODM leader Raila Odinga last night confirmed that the 76-year-old politician was at Nairobi Hospital after being taken ill.

The party’s director of communication, Mr Dennis Onyango, told the Nation that doctors had advised Mr Odinga to go into isolation for two weeks “although Covid-19 was not detected from the tests done”.

“He says he feels okay, but doctors say some of the signs he has,  such as feeling tired, need to be monitored,” Mr Onyango said.

Earlier, another aide had said the ODM leader had complained of body ache before checking into hospital where a series of tests were done. He also confirmed that Mr Odinga had been admitted to the hospital.

Mr Odinga skipped a key event to coincide with the third anniversary of his handshake with President Kenyatta, which yielded the Building Bridges Initiative.

The two leaders were set to meet at State House Nairobi, together with other political chiefs supporting the BBI.

According to planners, the group that would also include Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi, Kanu’s Gideon Moi, his Wiper Democratic Movement counterpart Kalonzo Musyoka, Ford Kenya’s Moses Wetang’ula and Charity Ngilu of Narc was scheduled to launch the Handshake BBI campaign.

Indisposed

But this failed to materialise after Mr Odinga was indisposed. 

A source close to the family said Mr Odinga had complained of “fatigue” after a gruelling five-day tour of the Coast, where he sought to calm the restive region whose leaders have been threatening to quit ODM.

In June last year, Mr Odinga took a three-week medical trip to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he had a minor operation.

In June 2010, Mr Odinga, then Kenya’s prime minister under President Mwai Kibaki’s Grand Coalition government, underwent an operation at The Nairobi Hospital to remove fluid from the brain.

Mr Odinga’s admission to hospital came as the handshake faced fresh threats after his party demanded that the other party leaders be kept out of future meetings between the Head of State and the ODM chief. 

The Nation reliably established that the leadership of the party had dissuaded Mr Odinga from any engagements bringing forth other political leaders “who continue to undermine him in public.”

“The leadership is clear that Raila should not attend those meetings where stooges are elevated to his level in the name of party leaders, yet he is a handshake co-principal,” a highly placed source said. 

Bigger BBI meeting

The source revealed that they are of the view that President Kenyatta should engage Mr Odinga as the co-partner in the handshake “rather than bundle him together with the politicians who continue to undermine him without any attempts by the State to rein [them] in.”

ODM National Treasurer Timothy Bosire, reaffirming a statement by a senior party official told the Nation that the party will not condone some “shameless leaders trying to harvest where they did not sow.” 

President Kenyatta, had on February 25, hosted Mr Odinga, Mr Mudavadi, Mr Moi, Mr Musyoka, Mr Wetang’ula and Mrs Ngilu at State House, where they announced that they had agreed to hold a joint consultative meeting on BBI on March 9. 

But the meeting did not take place. Instead, some close allies of the two leaders, including governors, held a “consultative” meeting on BBI, the only high profile event yesterday to mark the March 9, 2018 truce.

An unanticipated “clash of the calendar”, which resulted in one of the principals being away, was explained as the reason the meeting at State House was put off. 

Mrs Ngilu, who is also the Kitui Governor, hosted her colleagues at her residence in Nairobi for talks the group said were convened to plan for “a bigger BBI meeting” to be attended by President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga.

Among those in attendance were Governors Alfred Mutua (Machakos) and Wycliffe Oparanya (Kakamega). 

BBI politics

They explained the two leaders were briefed on the progress of the meeting. 

However, Senate minority leader James Orengo came out to defend the handshake, saying, it was “extremely strong”.

“The handshake is very strong and that is why as the Senate, we’re working on the spirit of bipartisanship,” he said.

Mr Orengo was speaking in Mombasa where the Senate has convened for a strategic meeting ahead of discussions on the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, which is set to be tabled at the House before the end of this month.

He, however, reiterated his call to have civil servants off the handshake and BBI politics.

ODM director of elections Junet Mohamed had accused Interior PS Karanja Kibicho of interfering with the BBI secretariat’s role, while Mr Orengo, said some civil servants were secretly crafting President Kenyatta’s succession plan to undermine Mr Odinga.

However, Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jnr termed the aborted State House meeting as a clear “sign that the handshake is facing difficulties.”

Reporting by Harry Misiko, Alex Ndegwa, Justus Ochieng and Mohamed Ahmed