The 'handshake' and its (mis)interpretations

President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga during the March 9, 2018 Handshake in Nairobi. [File, Standard]

The ‘handshake’ between President Uhuru Kenyatta and National Super Alliance (NASA) leader Raila Odinga has been subjected to a number of interpretations, some of them insidious . On the one hand, we have the official version - which is based on what the two leaders told the Press immediately after their handshake on March 9, 2018. On the other, we have unofficial interpretations of the handshake by the Media, politicians and academicians.

The official version of the handshake is found in the joint statement by the two leaders in which they argued: “Over the last 55 years since independence, the people, and their leaders have sometimes taken sharply differing positions regarding the best road to travel towards this commonly agreed destination. This has led to the lack of a collective approach in the management of public affairs and has fostered feelings of exclusion and ultimately, animosity”.