Don't blame 2018 handshake for all wrong turns now

When Coast based artist Zuber Bakrani made a painting of the golden handshake between Raila Odinga and former President Uhuru Kenyatta at his Mwembe Tayari studios. [File, Standard]

It is a pity that politics has led to vilification of a social gesture as honourable and desirable as a handshake.

Many Kenyans are now politically indoctrinated to believe everything that has gone wrong with the country is due to the 2018 handshake between Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga.

I don't think so. A handshake is a gesture applied and used the world over, and more so in the African setting. First, it is a form of greeting where two people acknowledge each other's presence.

However, it holds a greater significance in negotiations and signing of contracts. Two signees will always want to face the camera with their hands locked to signify an accord. A handshake is a sign of forgiveness and readiness to put aside differences for the sake of peace.

If politicians were a little bit honest, they would tell you the real reason why retired Uhuru and Raila hurt them so much with a simple handshake. It has nothing to do with how the Jubilee government performed, and there is really no logical way to associate it with any deviation from the Jubilee agenda.

They were simply hurt that Uhuru had gathered the courage to heal historical wounds of hate. This hatred, though bad for the country, was good for their politics. The effect of the 2018 handshake was a sense of calmness. Even those who questioned it took their time. As much as he had been caught by surprise, then Deputy President William Ruto was magnanimous, and he welcomed it.

It was only when the political implications started manifesting that it was spun around, and understandably so. Uhuru supporting Raila meant a potential withering of the Kikuyu voting bloc.

Raila went on to have the easiest time campaigning in Central Kenya, holding rallies and eventually garnering huge number of votes from the region.

But besides those political implications, the handshake cannot be blamed for anything else. The only two leaders who took an oath to lead Kenyans at the highest level were former President Uhuru Kenyatta and his then deputy, William Ruto. It is important to differentiate between a handshake and a government of national unity. In the GNU, also known as the nusu mkate government, it would have been easy to burden both Raila and Mwai Kibaki for any failures.

In the handshake, only the BBI baby was born before dying a premature death. One other reason cited as to why handshakes are undesirable is that they create a mongrel political system.

However, this is an argument that would have made perfect sense had the Kenya Kwanza leadership refrained from eating into the opposition numbers in Parliament. The current political system only envisages opposition within Parliament, where Azimio has already been decimated. In short, that mongrel of governance is already in existence.

The writer is anchor at Radio Maisha