In his address to Kenyans during the Sunday, October 20 Mashujaa Day celebrations at the Mama Ngina waterfront in Mombasa County, AU envoy Raila Odinga waded into the sensitive secession topic.
Raila called for unity among Kenyans and urged Kenyans to disengage themselves from tribalism leanings.
The ODM party leader called for the unification of East African countries.
"Your excellency the president, let us continue with the vision that the pioneers of our country had of bringing together Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, South Sudan, Congo, and Rwanda to form the East African federation," Raila reiterated.
The former Premier's remarks on unity came two years after NASA, his political vehicle in the 2017 general election, called for secession talks after it lost to Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee party.
Through secession, Raila wanted a section of Kenya, especially the block that did not vote in President Kenyatta and DP Ruto to withdraw from Kenya and form a country of its own.
Spearheaded by David Ndii, a key Raila advisor during that time, the calls for ethnic-federalism reached far and wide with Raila's cronies echoing Ndii's statements.
Ndii had two versions of his argument on the calls for secession. In the first argument that appeared on his Saturday Nation column on March 16, 206, the economist argued that Kenyans needed to consider "divorce" as an alternative to living in a failed marriage.
However, after the popular March 2018 handshake, Raila ditched the secession talks in his new deal with President Kenyatta to unify the country that birthed the building bridges initiative which now calls for the scrapping of 14 counties.
His second argument shifted the narrative from secession to self-determination in the aftermath of the controversial August 2017 general elections.
Raila also lauded the March 2018 political deal between himself and President Kenyatta. He termed the handshake as a political vehicle that will drive Kenyans away from tribalism and corruption.
Before he concluded his short speech, Raila slid in the matter of the Building Bridges Initiative. To the crowd, Raila posed, "mtakubali BBI?" (You'll welcome the BBI agenda?)
