Raila Odinga has been painted as a political coward by a portion of Kenyans who think he made an erroneous move to accepted the extended arm of President Uhuru Kenyatta.There has been a mixture of reactions among, not only leaders from across the political divide but also from ordinary Kenyans.
Needless to say, the move for Raila Odinga to accept to bury the hatchet and put behind his back the feelings of injustices toward him by president Kenyatta, has been celebrated across the country by Kenyans who think there will be unity of Kenyans from across the political, social, and tribal backgrounds.
In 2007, after the hotly contested presidency in which Raila Odinga claimed to have been rigged to his advantage, he (Raila), after the arbitration talks chaired by former United Nations Secretary General Koffi Anan and other renowned leaders, decided to accept that the then president Mwai Kibaki had won and thus settling to the Prime Minister position was for the good of the nation which was then boiling in the political crisis.
The move (in 2007) led to a political fallout among the members of the ODM Party and even a portion of Kenyans was disappointed. Majority of whom suggested that Raila should not have "let go" of his "rightfully won presidency".
Nonetheless, Raila said that it was for the good of the nation that he decided to let go.Raila Odinga seems to be having the interests of the people at heart. Consider the prolonged political crisis in other countries of Africa like South Sudan, Central African Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) among others.
Political leaders find it hard to agree and the results are felt in the deaths of their countrymen.
Raila Odinga is Kenya's first politician who will go down in history as the most considerate statesman who put the interests of the nation above his own for as demonstrated twice in his political career for reaching out to his political rivals who were presidents Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta.