Amid regional turbulence President William Ruto showed Kenya's pulling power with a star-studded launch on 27 August for his former foe Raila Odinga's campaign to lead the African Union Commission (AUC)...

Odinga initially signalled his plans to succeed Chadian incumbent Moussa Faki Mahamat as AUC chairman in February and was quickly endorsed by most of Kenya's political establishment (Dispatches 21/2/24 Raila Odinga's bid for AU chair wins consensus in Nairobi)...

Veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga is in power if not in office after four members of his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) including party chair John Mbadi now Finance Minister and Odinga's two deputies Hassan Joho and Wycliffe Oparanya were brought into William Ruto's unofficial unity government in July with Mbadi as Cabinet Treasury Secretary (AC Vol 65 No 16 Raila names his price)...

Former Nairobi governor Evans Kidero a former ally of Raila Odinga who has since joined Ruto's United Democratic Alliance is one of few to have good relations with Ruto...

Screenings for the replacement ministers – five are allies of electoral rival Raila Odinga four from business and ten from Ruto's former cabinet – are due to wind up in mid-August...

First he led the crackdown against supporters of oppositionist Raila Odinga following the 2017 polls...

Matiang'i would have expected a senior ministerial job had Raila Odinga won the presidency...

Four ministries including the Treasury was the price Raila Odinga set for propping up William Ruto's ailing presidency and to establish what is effectively Kenya's first unity government since 2008...

President William Ruto signed a bipartisan law to reform the IEBC in July and the selection panel tasked with recruiting new IEBC commissioners took office on 30 July after lengthy wrangling between Ruto's Kenya Kwanza and the opposition Azimio la Umoja of Raila Odinga which still blames IEBC bias for Ruto's election in August 2022...

Early last week opposition Azimio la Umoja leader Raila Odinga held talks with Ruto on a ‘handshake 2...

Their dissent towards anyone who has been part of the political class became clear when veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga declared in early July that he would be open to dialogue with President William Ruto (Dispatches 9/7/24 Ruto pledges cuts on state budgets and anti-graft action as he struggle to assert control)...

It which promises ‘a holistic program of support to strengthen the capacity and impact of pro-democracy leaders' has built a stable of clients including Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga Congo-Kinshasa's Martin Fayulu and Senegal's Idrissa Seck but has rarely acted for a sitting government (AC Vol 64 No 19 Seck seeks DC clout & Dispatches 4/10/23 Fayulu confirms candidacy for presidential polls)...

With opposition leader Raila Odinga and his Azimio la Umoja party neutered at least in part by Odinga's reliance on the government for diplomatic support to secure him the chair of the African Union Commission the youth protests may mark the biggest political challenge to William Ruto's presidency...

In Kenya the administration formed in 2008 after post-election violence between President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader turned Prime Minister Raila Odinga was marred by infighting and a lack of coherent policy direction...