NAIROBI, Kenya Mar 9 \u2013 Days after ODM leader Raila Odinga and President William Ruto sealed their agreement to work together in the broad-based government, tensions are running high within the Kenya Kwanza camp.<\/p>\n
Leaders allied to former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua have strongly opposed the move, terming it a selfish pact designed to serve personal interests at the expense of ordinary Kenyans.<\/p>\n
Speaking after attending a church service in Kangemi, Nairobi, a section of the leaders\u2014led by Embakasi North MP James Gakuya\u2014castigated the handshake, calling it a ploy to silence the opposition at a time when key state projects, such as the Social Health Authority (SHA), are failing to meet public expectations.<\/p>\n
Gakuya, who has his eyes set on the Nairobi gubernatorial seat in the 2027 elections, did not mince his words, accusing Raila of abandoning his long-held mission of fighting for the common mwananchi.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the previous government, he had a deal with President Uhuru Kenyatta, and we didn\u2019t elect him. Now he wants to repeat the same thing with Ruto. This coalition is for his own benefit\u2014his stomach, not the people,\u201d Gakuya declared.<\/p>\n
He questioned Raila\u2019s integrity in joining forces with the government, arguing that a true opposition leader would never compromise for personal gain.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he was truly fighting for Kenyans, he wouldn\u2019t be in bed with the government. The moment you join the government, it\u2019s no longer about the people\u2014it\u2019s about your own interests. When will he remember the people of Kenya?\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond the national political landscape, Gakuya also took issue with Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja\u2019s involvement in the broad-based government. He argued that instead of focusing on service delivery in the capital, Sakaja was preoccupied with political alignments that would only slow down development.<\/p>\n
\u201cNairobi is not even working for the people. The governor is busy taking litter to other institutions and vomiting on our shoes while the county remains in a state of disarray,\u201d Gakuya lamented.<\/p>\n
On March 7, President William Ruto and opposition leader Raila Odinga entered into a political pact aimed at fostering collaboration on critical government policies.<\/p>\n
Both leaders emphasized that this agreement was not a new political formation but a framework for joint consultations on pressing national issues, intending to ease political tensions and promote cooperative governance. \ufffc<\/p>\n
This development mirrors a previous event in 2018 when Odinga and then-President Uhuru Kenyatta reconciled through a symbolic \u201chandshake,\u201d leading to the formation of the Azimio coalition. That alliance aimed to stabilize the nation after a period of political unrest but also faced criticism for potentially undermining the opposition\u2019s role. \ufffc<\/p>\n
Critics of the current Ruto-Odinga pact express concerns that it might erode parliamentary opposition, similar to apprehensions raised during the 2018 handshake.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAIROBI, Kenya Mar 9 \u2013 Days after ODM leader Raila Odinga and President William Ruto sealed their agreement to work together in the broad-based government, tensions are running high within the Kenya Kwanza camp. Leaders allied to former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua have strongly opposed the move, terming it a selfish pact designed to serve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111657\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}