Senator Amos Wako: Shed light on unity deal

On March 9, long-time political foes President Uhuru Kenyatta and Opposition leader Raila Odinga shook hands on the steps of Harambee House, and promised to “soon” rollout a programme to achieve a more equitable, just, and prosperous Kenya.

Twenty-seven days later, not even the two men that were to oversee its establishment – lawyer Paul Mwangi from Mr Odinga’s side, and Ambassador Martin Kimani from the Government – have spoken about the deal, or their progress.

A press conference the duo had organised two weeks ago was cancelled at the last minute and, since then, speculation has been rife about the deal, its evolution, with a specific focus on the role Mr Odinga will play in it.

DISCUSSION
The programme the duo were to establish was to have an office and a retinue of advisers to assist in the implementation of a deal to resolve negative ethnicity, lack of inclusiveness, lack of national ethos, electoral injustice and divisive elections, devolution, corruption and insecurity.

On Thursday, former Attorney-General and Busia Senator Amos Wako became the first politician to formally express open worry about the delay in implementing the deal that was to bring a ceasefire to Kenya’s highly-charged politics.

“It is almost one month since you issued the statement and neither the programme has been rolled out nor launched,” Mr Wako said in a letter to President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga, circulated by Mr Odinga’s ODM communications team.

2022 ELECTIONS

But Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen said that Mr Wako should be patient, insisting that the fruits of the deal were already being seen with a peaceful political environment that, he added, had allowed State organs to deliver.

“No one, especially those of us who were not part of the agreement, should abrogate ourselves policing powers.

"To the contrary, the statement by Senator Wako has the potential to be one of the negative and unattractive activities,” Mr Murkomen said in a text message.

In the letter, Mr Wako, who served as Kenya’s chief government legal adviser for two decades, warned that, if not acted upon, and fast, the fruits of the deal, if any, will be drowned by noises about 2022 succession politics.

“For two years, the nation should not be detracted by peripheral issues as is currently happening.

"I suggest that where constitutional and legal provisions will require to be enacted, the target should be that those provisions be enacted by mid-2020, before the 2022 elections fever takes over,” Mr Wako said in the two-page letter.

RAILA'S FUTURE
The fear of 2022 State House politics overshadowing the handshake is so real, it appears, that Mr Odinga insisted that it was the reason the whole organisation of the surprise truce was kept secret.

Speculation about the deal has continued unabated with sources within both camps at one point suggesting that Mr Odinga will get an office, and staff, and remain a ‘father’ figure, advising, and giving counsel when needed.

At another point, and over the same fear of his continued involvement in local politics, Mr Odinga was said to be headed to the African Union as a special envoy with the backing of President Kenyatta.

None of these have been confirmed or denied by the team, Mr Odinga’s office, or State House, with both camps just voicing their support for the deal, but with continuing murmurs, and accusations that President Kenyatta was not as forthright as Mr Odinga.

JUBILEE'S INTEREST
While Mr Odinga has called his party’s parliamentary group, and the national governing council to endorse the deal, there have been murmurs that Mr Kenyatta, on the other hand, besides public functions, has not called any organ of his party to okay the handshake.

“The handshake rises or falls on the pedestal of the rule of law, and if the State is out to undermine the rule of law, then the deal has no basis.

"The joint statement by the two also talked about rights and respect for the rule of law,” Siaya Senator James Orengo said on Saturday.

Mr Orengo was part of the legal team representing deported lawyer Miguna Miguna and, after being clobbered by police as they presented an order allowing his unconditional release, the senator questioned the relevance of the deal.

“Raila is back-peddling. He was played. And we told him! This whole thing confirms that Raila expected too much from the so-called handshake,” Ford Kenya deputy party leader Boni Khalwale said of the handshake.

“We now want a structured cooperation, if we must have one at all … we are being taken for granted,” Mr Wycliffe Oparanya, who is the Kakamega Governor, said last week.