Ruto: Handshake between Uhuru and Raila was a stab in the back

Deputy President William Ruto yesterday said Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga had agreed to retire from politics as part of the latter’s handshake with President Uhuru Kenyatta on March 9, 2018.

Dr Ruto, who is on a tour of the United States, said Mr Odinga had asked President Kenyatta for a retirement package, claiming he would exit the political scene and not be involved in the 2022 succession politics.

In an interview with Voice of America TV, Dr Ruto said he was informed by Mr Kenyatta that Mr Odinga had asked for a sendoff package, apart from promising to help the President end the chaos that engulfed the country following the 2017 elections.

“I had been informed that Raila Odinga had agreed to be facilitated to retire. I remember asking: ‘Really? Do you expect him to? We know Raila Odinga and his games”. And I was saying that time that I know Raila Odinga is not going to retire. And every fear I had has come to be,” Dr Ruto said.

The DP accused the President of betrayal, saying Mr Kenyatta lied to him on the details of the handshake.

Responding to questions on why he fell out with the President, the DP said Mr Kenyatta had informed him that the handshake was only about peace and unity, “only for him to later support Mr Odinga for the presidency”.

He also cited attempts to change the Constitution through the Building Bridges Initiative, the purge of Jubilee rebel MPs from key positions and committees in the Senate and National Assembly as well as the dalliance between Mr Kenyatta and Mr Odinga as part of the reasons he fell out with the President.

“The things we had agreed on as forming part of the handshake mutated into something else. We did not discuss for example, that it would be an exercise to kill the opposition and oversight. We did not discuss that members of the ruling party would be jettisoned so that members of the opposition could occupy committees in Parliament,” he said.

“We didn’t agree that this was an exercise in changing the Constitution. And we did not agree that this was an exercise in succession. And so everything we did not agree on, became the handshake.”

But allies of Mr Odinga dismissed Dr Ruto’s claims. 

Mr Dennis Onsarigo, the press secretary in Mr Odinga’s campaign secretariat, laughed off the allegations, terming them wild, unfounded and attention-seeking.

Succession contest

“Let William Ruto come back to Kenya where politics is done. Raila Odinga cannot speak for the President but he has said before, that the handshake was about peace and uniting the country. That is the legacy he wants to leave behind,” Mr Onsarigo told the Sunday Nation.

Mr Odinga’s spokesman, Dennis Onyango, said the DP has sensed defeat in the August 9 presidential election, adding that he is “clutching at anything that looks like a straw”.

“In the past, he has repeatedly said that he was kept in the dark about the handshake. He can’t now claim to know what the provisions of the handshake were. It confirms his desperation,” Mr Onyango told the Sunday Nation.

“The handshake was between President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga. Both have said it had no conditions. Which handshake is Ruto talking about? Raila is running because the people of Kenya have asked him to.

He does not need to stop just because Ruto fears him. That won’t change even if he addresses media houses in all world’s capitals.”

President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga have also denied claims that the handshake was about the 2022 succession contest, insisting that it was about uniting the country after the acrimonious 2017 elections.

Addressing Jubilee and ODM party delegates in Nairobi last weekend, President Kenyatta said Mr Odinga did not ask him for anything in return for the handshake. 

He said the ODM chief agreed to support him in uniting the country after the DP attempted to sabotage the Jubilee administration through his ambitions.

“Ambition must be controlled. It must not be unbridled. Uncontrolled ambition is like having an unguided missile. At the end of the day, your personal ambition cannot supersede the well-being of 50 million Kenyans,” President Kenyatta said.

“They have been saying that the government has not worked since 2018. But let me ask you, what position did I give Raila Odinga that took away the benefits that those who were in government?” 

Mr Odinga has also previously said the initial plan was not to have him on the ballot as a presidential candidate, but have others like Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i whom he had at one point thought of backing.

Handshake and BBI

“One time, I said I was ready to support Matiang’i but when we did a review and looked at how the forest was later, Matiang’i told me to go to the forest first,” Mr Odinga said in Kisii last year.

Dr Ruto on the other hand, has also previously argued that despite being informed about the handshake, the actual deal by the two leaders was never made clear to him.

He also claimed, without giving details, that Mr Odinga had earlier approached him before meeting President Kenyatta for discussions on the handshake. 

“As President Kenyatta has said, I was briefed (about the handshake). President Kenyatta informed me. In fact, before Raila Odinga engaged President Kenyatta, he had attempted to engage me. This is in the public domain,” Dr Ruto said.

“When we assumed office in 2013, we set about building a foundation. We needed to build a solid foundation. But in the second term, we got ourselves in a programme called the handshake and the BBI and everything else towards that direction.”

Dr Ruto instead asked the President to be less aggressive towards him despite their differences, arguing that Mr Kenyatta should not treat him badly because of his views.

“If you get a chance to talk to President Kenyatta, ask him to be less aggressive towards me. We could make this a little better. Uhuru Kenyatta is my boss and friend even though we hold different views,” he said. 

“Democracy means that even though I don’t agree with you, I should defend your right to hold a contrary view without taking any drastic action.”

The DP also repeated his claims of plans by people in the government to influence the election in favour of Mr Odinga.

He added that past events where Cabinet Secretaries have been involved in planning of elections set a precedence.

“We have confidence in the ability of Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to run a credible vote. Without interference, the IEBC has the capacity to deliver on its mandate,” the DP said. 

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