Cherangany Member of Parliament Joshua Kutuny has revealed that he played a part in engineering the partnership between President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
During a church service on Sunday, January 9, the former State House political advisor disclosed that he advised Uhuru to partner with the ODM leader back in 2014.
Kutuny also divulged that Deputy President William Ruto was present at the meeting, adding that he knew that the partnership would help Uhuru in implementing his development agenda.
"When I left politics, I became the advisor of the president for five years. I remember in 2014 I explained to the president and the DP while they were taking tea that it would be better to have Raila in government than out of government.
"I told the President that if Raila is given a post and is contended, then he would sleep peacefully. The truth is that while I was at State House we lacked sleep because Raila was out of government. He really disturbed us," Kutuny revealed.
The former State House official added that the decision to have the handshake was reached after they noted that the economy and security of the country were being affected by the instability in the country.
"Additionally, the country was headed to the ruins. The economy was doing bad and the state of security was also becoming bad.
"We asked ourselves what it would take to bring peace in the country and we agreed to bring peace through the handshake and that is when we brought in Raila," he stated.
The Cherengany legislator also stated that the 2018 handshake brought Uhuru peace of mind claiming that the skin tone of the president changed during his second term.
"The person who wears the shoe knows where it hurts. We knew what Uhuru was going through. Uhuru of today is brown. Uhuru of the past was dark. If you are a true friend of Uhuru then you must support the handshake. Uhuru has gained recognition both locally and internationally.
Kutuny further hit out at allies of Ruto who have criticised his support of the handshake stating that the utterances made during the Eldoret Rally by Meru Senator Mithika Linturi were unacceptable.
"I want to assure you that I am from the Rift valley and we shall not go back to the politics of incitement," he stated.
