Since August 2022 elections President William Ruto and Opposition chief Raila Odinga have maintained hard-line positions, dismissing a possibility of a cooperation deal.
Counter-accusations from both camps have left the country in limbo on what to expect from both President Ruto and the Azimio leader.
However, Governance and Political analysts appearing on the NTV on Monday, January 30 argued that either way a consensus has to be reached even if it meant a handshake.
With Odinga leading the opposition troops in castigating and claiming the August 9 elections victory, Herman Manyora insisted that President Ruto has to reach out to Odinga.
He argued that Ruto had to reach out lest suffer the legitimacy baggage that his predecessor former President Uhuru Kenyatta suffered in the 2017 elections.
“Ruto should be the big brother and extend his hand to Raila in the interest of this country; because none of them will win if they don’t talk. The Raila and Martha I am seeing you cannot manage them using state power,” he stated.
Lawyer and Governance expert Martin Oloo equally questioned the government's legitimacy claiming that Ruto’s administration had lacked focus in engaging the opposition.
“A problem that we have is that even those in government are showing that they are not with it; they are still focused on their opponents. We have a crisis of legitimacy,” he observed.
An observation that was agreed upon by Gitile Naituli;
“The Kenya Kwanza government is falling into Azimio’s trap by making it a shouting match,” he agreed.
Previously, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua affirmed that if Ruto was to seat with Odinga, the talks should revolve around his retirement strategy from politics.
"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,"
Azimio, on the other hand, through Jubilee Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni dismissed the possibility of a political truce between Ruto and Raila stating that the Azimio leader was in no need of a ‘handshake’ with the current administration, which he called “plan-less” illegitimate and clueless.
“I want people to understand that Baba does not want a handshake, he has no need of a handshake with people who do not have a plan. They are plan-less and without any sense of direction,” he castigated.
It remains to be seen how this plays out given that the Ruto administration has been in power for six months with the public filled with high expectations of the government reducing the cost of living.
