Raila Odinga: From Uhuru-Matiang'i archrival to 'guardian angel'
Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta, former Interior CS Fred Matiang'i and former PM Raila Odinga in a past event.
At the height of anti-Jubilee protests immediately after the 2017 General Election, the now Azimio la Umoja One Kenya boss Raila Odinga and former President Uhuru Kenyatta and his trusted allies were not seeing eye to eye.
Before the March 2018 handshake between Mr Kenyatta who is the chairperson of Azimio's council and Mr Odinga, immediate former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i was also at loggerheads with the former Prime Minister over the countrywide demonstrations.
At one point, Dr Matiang'i even accused Mr Odinga who was then the leader of National Super Alliance (Nasa) of plotting to cause anarchy in the country.
Mr Odinga and his supporters were heavily teargassed by police, who fell in Dr Matiang’i’s ambit.
"There is absolutely nothing peaceful in attacking a police station. There is nothing holy in looting businesses. This is thuggery and we shall act accordingly," warned Dr Matiang’i.
“These policemen you are seeing here are our brothers and sisters. What does one gain by provoking them? There is no reason why one would want to attack them in the disguise of causing havoc."
The March 9, 2018 handshake between Mr Kenyatta and Mr Odinga, a watershed moment that redrew the country’s political architecture, cost the former Prime Minister several key political associates and gained him new ones in equal measure.
Fast forward to 2023 and Mr Odinga has turned out to be an ardent defender of both Mr Kenyatta and Dr Matiang’i.
On Wednesday night, for instance, Mr Odinga left the comfort of his home and drove to the home of the former Interior Cabinet Secretary in Karen, Nairobi following claims that police were about to conduct a raid.
Former Interior minister
Mr Odinga, who arrived at Mr Matiang’i’s home at 10pm, criticised President Ruto’s government, saying that was not the way to treat a “senior citizen” and a former Interior minister.
The former Prime Minister has also accused Dr Ruto of weaponising the KRA to intimidate leaders in the opposition as he told the President to stop victimising his predecessor, Mr Kenyatta.
On Sunday last week in Kibra, defended the Kenyatta family as he explained that generational inheritance was legally exempted from taxation.
He asked President Ruto to stay away from the politics of taxes and leave the KRA to do its job.
“Leave tax matters to KRA, let KRA do its work and stop politicizing them. Leave Mama Ngina alone, leave Uhuru Kenyatta alone! I hear them accusing others of evading taxes. Yesterday (Saturday last week), even a respected mother had to speak about it because she had been insulted by them so many times. They don’t know where Kenya came from. When Mama Ngina spent a night in the cell. Why insult an old woman in her 80s heading to 90s? She is your grandmother's age,” said the Azimio boss.
He added: "There is a law exempting the Kenyatta estate from paying taxes. The law was introduced in 1969. Then after Kenyatta passed, in 1980, Moi introduced his name to the list. This was overturned in 1982 and the law now exempts all Kenyans. That if you inherit a dead man’s property you don’t pay tax."
And in Mr Odinga, Mr Kenyatta and Dr Matiang’i have found a guardian, proving as they say that in politics, there are no permanent enemies, only interests.
