On Sunday, April 2, President William Ruto and Azimio Leader Raila Odinga caught Kenyans by surprise when they announced a truce.
Politicians, analysts and the general public started giving out their reasons why the two leaders had agreed on dialogue after months of publicly antagonising each other.
Former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s name featured prominently as many of the analysts and political insiders credited him with having engineered the tranquillity between the two political nemeses.
The media spoke exclusively to political analysts Prof Herman Manyora, Dr Brian Mutie and Dismas Mokua on whether the truce between the President and the Azimio leader had the markings of the former Head of State.
Manyora remarked that no one with certainty could claim that Uhuru met the duo, an assertion that was endorsed by Mokua.
“Despite that, there is a high degree that Uhuru was involved in bringing the two leaders together. That could have been achieved through either a physical meeting, telephone, or sending of emissaries,” Manyora remarked.
National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah on Monday, April 4, however, refuted claims such a meeting happened.
"I can confirm that Ruto has not met with Raila Odinga or Azimio leadership. He has not even spoken with Raila, leave alone the handshake," the Kikuyu Member of Parliament (MP) had remarked.
Manyora, however, fiercely defended his belief that Uhuru played a critical role in the truce talks terming Ichung'wah a small fish likely to be left out of the negotiations conferences.
“If they were to meet, would Ichung’wah know? Does he have access to the President’s diary? These politicians must start accepting they are small people in the picture,” the Professor remarked on the MP’s denial that there was a meeting.
Mokua, on the other hand, revealed that at a time when there was a lot of misinformation online, politicians should be wary of feeding Kenyans nonfactual information. He noted that no one was saying with certainty that he witnessed a meeting between the trio.
In an earlier interview with the media, Mutie, who is a governance expert and an advocate of the High Court, remarked that there was a high possibility that Uhuru engineered the talks.
“This is because Uhuru has access to both parties and he was also caught in the thick of the demonstrations after protestors invaded his Northlands City farm,” he explained on Sunday, April 2.
Mutie further added that Uhuru was likely to be involved going forward because budding politicians from his Mt Kenya region had consistently dragged his name into public rallies.
Manyora, while agreeing with Mutie, maintained that Uhuru’s input would be needed going forward with the bipartisan approach model proposed by Ruto.
“You cannot ignore Uhuru and I am suspecting he is the one who played a key role in getting the two together,” Manyora stated on the importance of Uhuru in the Ruto-Raila truce.
