Handshake will benefit us all - Raila

Opposition leader Raila Odinga has criticised people opposed to his ongoing political camaraderie with President Uhuru Kenyatta, saying that it was for the benefit of all Kenyans.

Speaking in Nyamira County, Mr Odinga said he was receiving all manner of accusations from those who were uncomfortable with his decision to reconcile with President Kenyatta but insisted that there was no turning back.

He spoke at Kijauri grounds where he had joined Chief Justice David Maraga and dozens of political leaders from across the country to bury Nyamira Governor John Nyagarama's son, George Ndemo.

COOPORATION

The late George Ndemo died about a month ago after a long illness and the burial was only arranged after his father returned from the US on Monday where he had been on sick leave.

But the occasion offered Mr Odinga a chance to respond to questions surrounding his "handshake" with the president. He was referring to a decision of mutual cooperation between the two erstwhile political antagonists that culminated in a handshake at the President's Harambee House office.

Mr Odinga told mourners that the handshake had already been hailed the world over and castigated some leaders for opposing it.

EVICTIONS

“I have received congratulatory messages from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former US President Barack Obama, who toured the country early this week, and from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who yesterday said we had made the best decision with President Kenyatta of uniting the country and showing a good example,” he said.

The latest accusations came on Thursday when some politicians from the Jubilee Party claimed Mr Odinga had used his closeness to the President to instigate the ongoing evictions of squatters from the Mau forest.

The decision to evict the people was taken by the Jubilee government to protect water towers, after it emerged people had illegally encroached on forest land.

A similar decision in 2009 came at a huge political cost to none other than Mr Odinga himself, who, as Prime Minister at the time, lost the populous Rift Valley vote that had voted for him almost to a man in the 2007 General Election. Recent efforts to deflect blame from Deputy President William Ruto's wing of the ruling party, Jubilee, could be read from that perspective of similar fears.

REFORMS

Yesterday, Mr Odinga revealed that every development in the country since the handshake took place was a clear indication of the direction the country has chosen to take, referring to the Building Bridges initiative that is in the process of discussing critical reforms for the country.

The Building Bridges taskforce is organising, in a move aimed at actualising the handshake, its first conference slated for next month, which will major on corruption. Other conferences on devolution, elections and other issues mentioned in the handshake will follow.

CORRUPTION

“The conference will bring together Kenyans, asking them to give their views on the ongoing war on corruption and what they think about it. Also, they will suggest on how best to fight it. It will be a bottom-to-top kind of approach contrary to what has been witnessed in the past,” he said.

He said that, after the handshake, a lot had taken place in the country including the war on corruption, which was among the issues in their MoU with the president.