After Raila loses, riots erupt then deal follows

A Gen Z Protester march along Moi Avenue in Nairobi during the Anti-government protest on July 23, 2024. [Boniface Okendo, Standard] Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga has been described as a handshake enigma due to his ability to join the government even after being defeated in polls. As he has been hailed for his miraculous ways of forcing the elected government into submission, political players have raised concerns over his objective of initiating protests after every election cycle. In every protest, tens of people are usually killed by the police while others are maimed, carrying scars for the rest of their lives despite Raila joining the government. Although Raila was not part of last year's protests against Finance Bill, 2024, that saw more than 60 protesters die, his joining government through the broad-based arrangement with President William Ruto caused his political allies led by Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka and People's Liberation Party (PLP) leader Martha Karua to accuse him of benefiting from the blood of the Gen Z. High taxes Kalonzo described the cooperation agreement between Ruto and Raila as betrayal of Kenyans and said it was unfortunate that Raila joined the government following the death of the youth who demonstrated against the high cost of living, governance problems and high taxes. "The broad-based government is the betrayal of Kenyan people, there was no formula on the agreement showing Kenyans are going to compensate their families and the loss of lives because of police brutality," Kalonzo said. Karua accused Raila and his allies of exploiting the Gen Z movement to further their political agenda and secure top government positions. "I am against hijacking the demand for accountability by the Gen Zs and making it an opposition thing. Let the Gen Zs express themselves so that we can examine their demands," Karua said while maintaining that the Gen Z demands were constitutionally grounded, particularly regarding accountability. Reports from human rights lobby groups such as Amnesty International indicate that 60 people were killed and hundreds injured when police used excessive and unnecessary force against people protesting against the controversial Finance Bill in June 2024. More than 600 protesters were arbitrarily arrested and detained, and dozens were forcibly disappeared while extrajudicial executions continued to be reported yet the protests ended in an anticlimax manner after Raila's ODM party entered into an agreement with Ruto's UDA party. While the youth were left reeling from the deaths and enforced disappearances, Raila gained heavily when his allies were included in the Cabinet-and others have since been picked to be Principal Secretaries, envoys and other senior government positions. They included CSs Hassan Joho (Mining and Blue Economy) John Mbadi (Treasury) Opiyo Wandayi (Energy) Wycliffe Oparanya (Cooperatives) Beatrice Askul (East African Community). Among the Principal Secretaries are Caroline Karugu (East African Community), Regina Akoth Ombam (Trade), Judith Naiyai Pareno (Justice, Human Rights & Constitutional Affairs) among others. Between March and July 2023, Raila called for protests over high cost of living and electoral reforms and as a result, over 67 people were allegedly killed by the police who were accused of using unnecessary physical force, conducting illegal home searches, and unlawfully use of tear gas against protesters, bystanders, children, and individuals in their homes, businesses and on the streets. At the time, Raila claimed Ruto's administration had left thousands of Kenyans struggling to access goods and services essential to their rights, including food, health care, housing, and education. The demands by the Azimio coalition led to the formation of the National Dialogue Committee (Nadco) report that further divided the Opposition with Raila's allies claiming it did not address the main issues that were at the heart of citizens Those opposed to the outcome of the Nadco report led by Dap-Kenya party leader Eugene Wamalwa and the Jubilee Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni maintain that the Nadco did not address the high cost of living and that the government hijacked the whole process. "It was a waste of time, the issues Kenyans wanted addressed were dumped as the priority was given to non-issues such as positions," Kioni said. After being accused of hijacking the Gen Z movement, Raila denied the accusations and described them as useless "I am not a beneficiary of the Gen Z protest. That is a useless allegation made in the media. I have not benefited. What happened was Ruto said he wanted to involve the larger society in governance and asked if we could give him some people from our party," Raila said in an interview with Citizen TV. He further argued that youthful Kenyans were nowhere to be found when talks on the broad-based government took place. In his March 2018 handshake between him and former President Uhuru Kenyatta, Raila was accused of throwing his supporters under the bus and joining the Uhuru administration which he had described as corrupt and illegitimate. Those opposed to him led by Ruto, accused Raila of using protests as his bargaining chip to join the government through the back door and swore that if elected President, he would not allow the Opposition to join government. Three years before the handshake, Raila had called for mass protests across the country moments before Uhuru was declared President expressing concerns that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission's server had been hacked and presidential results had been manipulated. The deadly protests saw over 1,100 people killed and another 650,000 displaced according to the Human Rights Watch. In 2013, after the Supreme Court affirmed Uhuru's victory, Human Rights Watch documented at least five cases of unlawful police killings of demonstrators in Kisumu while in June 2016, police killed at least five and wounded another 60 demonstrators in Kisumu, Homa Bay, and Siaya counties who called for the firing of electoral commission officials implicated in cases of corruption abroad.

After Raila loses, riots erupt then deal follows

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