Politicians owe their alliance-building skills to Raila Odinga's handshakes

The ongoing political formations emerging from the just concluded elections have raised questions around principles that guide political alliances. The movement of the United Democratic Movement Party and Movement for Development and Growth Party from the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition to the Kenya Kwanza Alliance has particularly irked sections of the political space in recent days.

Commentators have raised concerns about the legal provisions that should guide the formation of such alliances. Questions around what motivates parties and party leaders to join or leave one political alliance for another have also emerged. Yet political alliance building is as old as the art of politics itself.