‘Raila is pushing for handshake’ – Gachagua
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua now says Azimio la Umoja - One Kenya coalition leader Raila Odinga's upcoming nationwide demonstrations against President William Ruto’s government are a desperate ploy aimed at getting a handshake.
Raila has called rallies starting this Wednesday, December 7, at the Kamukunji grounds in his efforts to what he termed as “bringing down President Ruto’s system".
“On the 7th of December, at the historic Kamukunji grounds here in Nairobi, we will launch public consultations with the people of Kenya to brainstorm on the direction the country is taking,” Raila said at a past press conference.
Speaking during an inter-denominational church service at Embu University on Sunday, December 3 Gachagua linked the upcoming demos to the March 2018 ‘Handshake’ between the former Prime Minister and retired President Uhuru Kenyatta, saying he is now seeking an audience with President Ruto towards a possible agreement.
“Last time, he staged similar protests until he got himself into President Kenyatta and William Ruto’s government. Uhuru bought into his threats and let him into his handshake government and he wrecked it,” Gachagua claimed.
However, he said the Kenya Kwanza administration won't tolerate such attempts.
“He can stick to the opposition. Let the old man hear it from me, here at the slopes of Mount Kenya, there will be no handshake. The only handshake President Ruto is interested in is with hustlers for the Hustler Fund,” Gachagua noted.
He termed the 2018 political truce between Raila and Uhuru as “a bad experiment” and “the worst thing that has ever happened in the history of Kenya for 60 years” while claiming that it was the reason behind stalled projects in Mt Kenya Ruto's government inherited from the former administration.
“All these road and dam projects have stalled and it is because of him, he held the president hostage… All the economic mess we are having today is as a result of that handshake,” he said.
Adding;
“Now that we have defeated him, he has again started the language of demonstrations and his goal is still the same; scare the president and be invited for a handshake. We do not want him in our government. He can protest all day but there will be no handshake.”
Raila called for the demonstrations to protest the ongoing probe of the four Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioners by Parliament who tried to assist with overturning the election results.
This follows their suspension by president William Ruto pending further investigations into their conduct.
