In all occasions that former Prime Minister Raila Odinga agreed to work with the government, opposition politics was deemed to be as good as dead.
And throughout his political career, the veteran opposition leader has always managed to find a foothold and influence in governments formed by ex-rivals after losing out to them in elections.
The Kenya Kwanza administration has not been any different, as President William Ruto incorporated four Raila allies—John Mbadi, Opiyo Wandayi, Hassan Joho and Wycliffe Oparanya—to his Cabinet in August.
It followed weeks of behind-the scenes talks between Ruto and Raila on constituting the broad-based government following deadly Gen Z protests in June and July.
The former premier has had similar political deals with the Presidents Daniel Arap Moi (2001), Mwai Kibaki (2008) and Uhuru Kenyatta (2018).
When Raila was incorporated into Moi’s Cabinet, the political arena was stunned. After joining the National Development Party, he merged it with Kanu to form New Kanu.
To cement the marriage, Moi gave Raila and a few other NDP leaders Cabinet positions. He was appointed Minister for Energy, a position he held from June 2001 to 2002, when Moi revealed Uhuru as his preferred candidate for the New Kanu 2002 presidential ticket.
In April 2008, Kibaki named a new power-sharing government, with Raila as Prime Minister. The move ended weeks of deadlock after the deadly crisis that followed the 2007 election.
More than 1,200 people died and 600,000 displaced in what became the country’s bloodiest post-election violence since independence in 1963.
And on March 9, 2018, Kenyans witnessed a rather surprising event. On the steps of Harambee House, the building where the President’s office is domiciled along Harambee Avenue in Nairobi, Uhuru and Raila shook hands.
The political pact went on to be popularly known as the ‘handshake.’ It followed the ODM leader’s protest over the outcome of the 2017 general election, accusing Uhuru of vote rigging.
When Ruto raided the ODM party and picked vocal reform lieutenants to join his Cabinet, concerns emerged that the move would weaken the opposition’s oversight role.
Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka and Jubilee were left with a paltry number of members in Parliament after they maintained their stance against joining the government.
Swiftly, Kalonzo declared himself the official opposition leader, saying he would assume leadership of Azimio la Umoja.
“Yes, I am ready to be the leader of the official opposition. This is the team. You will see the opposition like never before. We may be light in numbers in Parliament, but outside, we have the people of Kenya,” he said.
Makueni Senator Dan Maaanzo, a member of the Wiper party, said the notion that when Raila joins the government, the opposition is left weak is misleading and does not apply in the current context.
“Wiper leader has been keeping the government in check very well after Raila decided to focus on his bid for the African Union Commission chairperson seat,” he added.
Even after some of Azimio members quit to join the Kenya Kwanza administration, the opposition continued with its work.
“Kalonzo has comfortably taken the star of Raila. Even so ODM MPs have been contending that they are not in government but in opposition and a lot of times they have worked with us,” Maanzo said.
Political analyst Javas Bigambo said Kenyans tend to personify opposition politics.
Any other person in the opposition has been seen to play third fiddle, not even second, to Raila. “It is for this reason that after Raila left Azimio to concentrate on his AUC bid and even had his members incorporated in government, the opposition functionally died,” Bigambo said.
He explained that Kenyans link opposition politics to firebrand people, which has been synonymous with a few individuals.
“Kenyans associate opposition with people who are willing to risk all and face off with the government,” he added.
“Kalonzo Musyoka is not willing to even spend an afternoon to face off with government. Narc Kenya’s Martha Karua only plays her opposition politics at press conferences. Kalonzo has not been organising a political rally that brings together opposition leaders and only attends those that have been convened by other people.”
Bigambo maintained that firebrand politics is not in Kalonzo, Karua, Jubilee secretary general Jeremiah Kioni and even DAP- Kenya party leader Eugene Wamalwa.
“That is why people who are not opposition leaders like Morara Kebaso are getting the attention of Kenyans because they are trying to be a little firebrand,” he said.
The executive director of Kenya National Civil Society Centre, Suba Churchill, regretted that rather than build institutions that can outlive individuals and personalities; Kenya seems to have personified the opposition. Kenyans have come to associate one individual with the opposition yet the person did not join politics to lose in elections.
“Being in the opposition is one of the many outcomes and unfortunate accident in the electoral process,” he said.
“Kenyans have associated the opposition with an individual yet we know leaders come and go or they go for different seats because they are in search of avenues of being in powerful positions.”
Churchill said Kenya needs to have an institutionalised opposition that goes beyond individuals. Even as Joho, Mbadi, Oparanya and Wandayi continue to discharge their duties as CSs, ODM leaders maintain that the party has not entered into any form of agreement with the ruling Kenya Kwanza coalition.
National chairperson Gladys Wanga has maintained that ODM is still an opposition party. “Let me make it clear that we have no coalition agreement with Kenya Kwanza.
For you to merge, there must be an agreement, a memorandum saying who will do what,” she said at a recent party meeting at the Coast.
Kilifi Governor Gideon Mungáro said ODM members working for President William Ruto would return to the party after Kenya Kwanza’s first term.
“They are there to help Ruto’s administration. They are just like football players who have been loaned to another club. After the league ends, they will come back to our team,” he said.
Wanga declared that ODM would field candidates in all positions in the next-generation elections. Ruto and Raila have further come under fire for moving to “weaken the opposition.”
The two are pushing for the passage of the changes that will allow party hopping. Lawmakers have proposed changes to the law that governs political parties to make it easier for the ruling party to poach members of the opposition.
Activists say the bill seeking to
allow the defection of MPs from
one party to the other will promote
‘political prostitution’ and kill democracy.
High-ranking elected officials –
including the President, Members
of Parliament and governors – will
also be free to advocate for the ideologies of opposing parties and
promote their interests, according
to the proposals in the Political Parties (Amendment) Bill 2024.
