On 9 March 2018, President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga shook hands outside Harambee House in Nairobi, a gesture that ended months of post-election political crisis following the disputed 2017 election and launched a political alliance that transformed Kenya's ethnic political geometry. The handshake was unexpected, divisive, and consequential.
Key Facts
- Background: the August 2017 election had been annulled by the Supreme Court; Odinga boycotted the October re-run; he was "sworn in" at a symbolic "People's President" ceremony in January 2018, a provocative act that Kenyatta's government threatened to prosecute; the country was in a sustained low-level political crisis with business disruption and sporadic violence
- 9 March 2018: Kenyatta and Odinga met at Harambee House; emerged together to shake hands before assembled media; the joint statement committed them to a "Building Bridges" process to address national unity, governance, and the factors underlying past electoral violence
- Building Bridges Initiative (BBI): a joint task force was established; it toured the country gathering public views; its final report (2020) proposed constitutional amendments including creating additional executive posts (to broaden ethnic power-sharing), increased ward development funds, and changes to the electoral system
- The BBI constitutional amendment bill was passed by Parliament and county assemblies but was challenged in court; the Court of Appeal in August 2021 and the Supreme Court in March 2022 declared the process unconstitutional on multiple grounds, including that the President cannot initiate a constitutional amendment, only the people can, via popular initiative
- Political effect: the handshake fractured the Jubilee Alliance; Deputy President William Ruto, who saw the BBI as a mechanism to freeze him out of the 2022 succession, became increasingly adversarial toward Kenyatta; Ruto built the "Hustler" movement as a direct counter-narrative
- Among Kikuyu voters, the handshake generated mixed reactions: some followed Kenyatta in supporting Odinga for 2022; many others backed Ruto; the Kikuyu vote in 2022 was split between the two candidates, a historic fracturing of bloc voting
- The handshake represents a recurring pattern in Kenyan elite politics: rivals who fight bitterly during election cycles subsequently reach accommodation; see the similar dynamics of the Grand Coalition after the 2007-2008 Post Election Violence
See Also
- Uhuru Kenyatta Presidency
- 2007-2008 Post Election Violence
- William Ruto Presidency
- Multiparty Politics
- Kikuyu Post-Uhuru Politics
Related
Uhuru Kenyatta Presidency | 2007-2008 Post Election Violence | William Ruto Presidency | Multiparty Politics