Ruto, Raila pick team to craft cooperation deal

President William Ruto and his arch-political-rival-turned confidant Raila Odinga are silently crafting a cooperation agreement akin to the 1998 Kanu/NDP deal.

This is part of the agreement reached when the two political titans met in Mombasa this week.

The agreement to be signed by UDA secretary general Hassan Omar and his ODM counterpart Edwin Sifuna will be ready by next week.

This decision follows a series of discussions aimed at fostering national unity and addressing pressing issues facing Kenya.

The details emerged on Thursday during a meeting of the party’s central management committee in Kisumu chaired by acting party leader Anyang’ Nyong’o and attended by Raila.

“Corporation is being drafted and then it will be sanctioned by the central management committee in the next one week,” a source, who attended the central committee meeting, told the Star.

“That corporation will be crafted and the two secretary generals are going to sign.”

Also present during the high-level meeting were secretary general Edwin Sifuna, national chairperson Gladys Wanga, deputy party leaders Abdulswamad Nassir, Godfrey Osotsi and Simba Arati.

Senate Minority leader Stewart Madzayo and ODM youth president John Ketora were among top party officials present.

This is the first time Raila is meeting an organ of the party after his failed AUC chairmanship bid in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and following his meeting with Ruto in Mombasa.

The party has also planned another central committee meeting next week to ratify the agreement.

The exact date for the meeting will be shared next week.

The source told the Star the corporation agreement is being worked on by a team of technocrats backed by members of the House leadership.

The team is tasked with formulating a cooperation agreement between the respective parties.

In the National Assembly, UDA is led by Majority leader Kimani Ichung’wah, who is deputised by Owen Baya (Kilifi North), with Silvanus Osoro as the Chief Whip and deputised by Naomi Waqo.

In the Senate, Kenya Kwanza is led by Aaron Cheruiyot and Boni Khalwale as Majority leader and Chief Whip, respectively.

Raila’s ODM has Junet Mohamed (Minority leader) and Millie Odhiambo (Minority Whip), they are deputised by Robert Mbui (Kathiani) and Mark Mwenje (Embakasi West).

The development, the Star established, has also necessitated pushing forward of the big announcement Raila had promised to make next week.

Speaking in Kisumu, the former PM promised to make a major announcement on his next political move.

The source said the announcement will now be made after the cooperation is ratified by the central committee and signed by both secretaries.

There were also reports the CMC agreed to have Raila take back the leadership of the party.

Kisumu Governor Nyong’o has been acting party leader for about a year when Raila was campaigning for the African Union Commission (AUC) chairperson’s seat.

The meeting, our source said, also rallied behind Sifuna who has been target of internal attacks because of his hard stance on working with Ruto.

“The matter came to the table and the meeting emphasised the secretary general has been talking on behalf of the party and now Mzee is here and he will be giving direction after that corporation is in place because before there was no roadmap,” the source noted.

This is not the first time Raila is entering into a cooperation, in 1998 he had a loose alliance with then President Daniel Moi’s Kanu, which gradually mutated into a merger on March 18, 2002.