Raila Odinga should work to strengthen party politics

It is hard to overstate how the former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s decision to endorse President Uhuru Kenyatta’s second term in office has impacted on our politics. The opposition, within and outside of Parliament, has all but disappeared. For all intents and purposes, Kenya is back to the era of a grand coalition.

As a result, the government has since March 2018 been an oversize coalition prone to all manner of internal divisions. This explains the overt unease signaled by Deputy President William Ruto at rallies. He knows that the entry of Raila into the Kraal dilutes his influence within Jubilee, and risks the possibility of quashing his chances of becoming president in 2022.