During the swearing-in of South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday, ODM leader Raila Odinga and Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua shared a podium.
At the event, the DP conveyed the congratulations of the Head of State while standing in for President William Ruto.
Last week, after an agreement to establish a coalition government between the African National Congress (ANC), its longtime rival Democratic Alliance (DA), and other parties, parliamentarians in South Africa reelected Ramaphosa to further serve as president.
This will be President Ramaphosa’s second term in office.
Together with Kiambu Senator Karungo Thangwa and his Kajiado counterpart Seki Lenku, the DP boarded a Kenya Airways flight to South Africa.
A week after the DP broke ranks with former President Uhuru Kenyatta, citing Raila’s present friendship with President Ruto as the reason, they met at Ramaphosa’s inauguration.
In an attempt to explain why he has been the focus of a political witch hunt within Kenya’s Kwanza government, Gachagua claimed he was being persecuted because he opted to collaborate with Uhuru.
He claimed that Uhuru’s main transgression was endorsing Raila prior to the 2022 election, but Ruto has made reconciliation with the ODM leader, thus he has no grounds for grudges against the former president.
Many of President William Ruto’s supporters have harshly criticized him for being willing to work with Uhuru to unite Mount Kenya, arguing that he is playing the ethnic card to gain political power.
Nevertheless, Gachagua has refuted the tribal narrative, claiming that the unity of the Mount Kenya region is not predicated on excluding a specific area.
According to him, the bid aims to guarantee the Mt Kenya region’s significant negotiating leverage in the country’s political discourse.
Remarkably, Raila has supported Gachagua’s call for one man, one vote, and one shilling.
