President Ruto shakes hands with Raila Odinga …Photo/courtesy.
By Peter Mwibanda.
NAIROBI, Kenya — Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has once again called for dialogue to resolve the country’s deepening political crisis. At this critical moment, however, his call misses the point.
Kenya isn’t yearning for elite negotiations—it’s demanding a fundamental shift in governance, justice, and accountability.
The protests rocking the nation aren’t rooted in a misunderstanding between government and opposition.
They are a cry against corruption, economic exclusion, police brutality, and failed leadership.
Young people taking to the streets are not seeking private talks. They want a broken system dismantled and rebuilt.
Odinga’s appeal for talks may be well-intentioned, but it risks sounding out of touch.
His 2018 handshake with then-President Uhuru Kenyatta eased tensions but also blurred lines of accountability, weakened opposition oversight, and led to the discredited Building Bridges Initiative—widely seen as an elite power-sharing scheme.
Today’s unrest is not about partisan gridlock. It’s a crisis of legitimacy.
Many Kenyans have lost faith not only in President William Ruto’s administration but in the entire political class.
A new generation—disillusioned and defiant—isn’t asking for a seat at the table. They want the table overturned.
Calls for dialogue have become a tired script—often ending in blame games and political deals, while citizens remain burdened by taxes, joblessness, and state violence.
If talks are to happen, they should begin with truth and end in structural reform, not empty promises.
Kenya doesn’t need another boardroom bargain. What it needs is a break from transactional politics.
That means ending impunity, dismantling patronage networks, reforming the police, and making public service truly accountable.
Odinga holds a respected place in Kenya’s history, yet he risks misreading the national mood.
The youth in the streets are not pleading for mediation—they are demanding transformation.
Unless the political class, including Odinga, listens with humility and acts with urgency, this moment will not be calmed by words.
Kenya doesn’t need another handshake. It needs a reckoning.
Ends.
