Jeremiah Kioni rules out possibility of a Raila-Ruto ‘handshake’

Jubilee Party Secretary-General Jeremiah Kioni on Sunday dismissed the possibility of a political truce between Azimio la Umoja leader Raila Odinga and President William Ruto, similar to the former’s ceasefire with retired president Uhuru Kenyatta on March 9, 2018.

During a rally at the Jacaranda Grounds in Nairobi where Odinga met his supporters to deliberate on solutions to problems facing Kenyans under President Ruto’s administration, Kioni said the Azimio leader is in no need of a ‘handshake’ with the current administration, which he called “plan-less”.

“I want people to understand that Baba does not want a handshake, he has no need of a handshake with useless people who do not have a plan. They are plan-less and without any sense of direction,” the Jubilee SG told the crowd.

He said that the coalition party is instead pushing for the implementation of the conditions Odinga gave the Kenya Kwanza administration during his last week’s rally, among which is the demand that President Ruto and all leaders in the government resign.

“We are all about the nine-point agenda Raila gave. “What we are saying is that Ruto must go!” Kioni said.

President Ruto and his deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, have in the recent days publicly dismissed criticism from the Azimio leader as a strategic ploy to land him in a clandestine deal with the Kenya Kwanza administration.

On Sunday, Gachagua warned his boss against a truce with the opposition leader, saying Raila “should stay away and execute his oversight role to correct us where we are not performing well.”

"Do not accept to have a handshake with him, but if you meet with him because he is a Kenyan citizen, you should have only one discussion, to discuss his exit from politics and permanent retirement from the politics of Kenya. That you have our support,' said Gachagua.

"He wants a handshake. His father bothered President Uhuru Kenyatta's father. He also bothered Moi and then Kibaki. He then took Uhuru and threw him into a ditch and he now wants that we hold discussions on how we will be given a position," Gachagua said.

As for anything that would lead to a ‘handshake’, the deputy president told his boss “Mr President, do not accept.”

Odinga’s Jacaranda rally followed last week’s Kamukunji Grounds rally as the former prime minister continues to mobilise his supporters to oppose President Ruto’s leadership.

“This regime and its unfortunate and unfair policies must be resisted and the resistance starts today,” he told the crowd on Monday while announcing that he will be holding more rallies in the coming days.