Peace, plum state jobs as handshake turns one year

The vibrant and famous Kondele in Kisumu on the night of December 25, 2018. Kondele is now a 24-hour economy, with traders and buyers in business the whole day and night. [File, Standard]

It is no longer a secret in Nyanza that Opposition leader Raila Odinga has maneuvered his way into the national kitchen where plum State jobs and development projects are cooked, thanks to his historic handshake with President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Talk that Raila is involved in the day-to-day running of the government is now rife across the country as Kenyans mark one year since the two leaders, whose bloody political rivalry battered the economy and left several people dead or injured, agreed to a ceasefire.

Just like in 2007, drums of war were reverberating from every corner of the country after Raila dismissed President Kenyatts’s re-election and was quickly sworn in as the people’s president.

But as tension, fear and anxiety boiled, the two leaders sneaked into the Harambee House where they held reconciliation talks on March 9, 2018 before emerging to shake hands, signaling the start of a new era.

In Nyanza, the handshake came as a shock. Raila’s supporters were preparing for a new round of anti-government protests. The resist movement – in which the opposition rallied supporters to boycott certain commercial services and products – was just beginning to bite.

Businesses destroyed during the bloody riots were still closed. Roads were still littered with boulders. Other communities that had fled Kisumu town were returning in trickles. The future looked bleak.

But today, the handshake has changed the political landscape. The Raila-Uhuru friendship has ushered in a new political atmosphere. Many of Raila’s allies from Nyanza and across the country have been appointed to various state parastatals.

Raila has landed a plum job as the African Union High Representative for Infrastructure Development, a diplomatic appointment he could not have got without President Kenyatta’s support.

Violence epicenter

Kisumu, where police killed the highest number of opposition supporters – totaling over 50 – is now calm.

At Kondele, the violence epicentre, police have not lobed a single teargas canister for a year.

At the height of the political rivalry, Nyanza was so hostile that even government officials could not access it to launch or inspect projects. Those who dared cooperate with the government were labelled traitors.

But after the handshake, political tunes changed and the region opened up to a vibrant restart.

According to Kisumu Business Coalition Chairman Israel Agina, new investors and those who had pulled out trooped back into the town following the handshake.

“Kisumu immediately registered a surge in meetings, incentive, conferences and events and the cash flow stabilised. Activity in sectors such as construction were revived almost immediately,” says Agina.

Banks and micro-lenders, he says, opened doors to the enterprises seeking credit to expand.

Heavy inflow of international trade, increased uptake of loans and asset finance as well as increased traffic in banking halls were indicators of economic recovery, according to Barclays Bank’s western Kenya regional manager Peter Kimotho.

Kisumu International Airport registered a 40 per cent rise of passengers from 89,526 in 2017/18 to 125,618 in 2018/19, according to data released by the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA).

This saw domestic tourism record significant growth and Lake Victoria gems such as Ndere Island National Park and Takawiri and Rusinga island lodges became the most sought after destinations in the region.

In the real estate industry, although the buzz for gated communities seems to have died off, a ground was broken for two skyscrapers stark in the middle of the Central Business District this year. Two others were opened for letting as demand for office and business space marginally rose, says Agina.

Meanwhile the handshake duo embarked on a bid to reunite Kenyans, a move that would see Raila promise a sea of changes aimed at bringing closer to the central power those who felt left out.

According to Muhoroni MP James Koyoo, the truce had thawed the frosty relationship between government officials and political leaders from the region.

“It is now very easy for us now to even pitch our development agenda to the government,” says Koyoo.

And since the handshake, President Kenyatta has visited the region, which enclaves Kisii and Nyamira, three times.