In politics they say, there are no permanent friends or enemies. It is never personal, just politics.
Recently, Kenya was shocked when two sworn political rivals in the name of President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga shook each other's hands and promised to work together for the betterment of the country.
This should, however, not have come as a surprise as Uhuru and Raila were once in KANU together and again Uhuru rallied behind Raila in opposing the 2005 proposed constitution.
So, political unity and fallouts are as old as Kenya. We look at the six major political fallouts that shook Kenya.
Kenyatta and Jaramogi
It remains as the first major political fallout in post-independent Kenya whose effects are still felt today. The fallout planted a seed of distrust and animosity among the members of Kenyatta's and Jaramogi's tribes.
It came as a result of the duo's parallel political ideologies as well as what is described as Kenyatta's alienation of the people who lobbied for his release from detention in 1961.
Kenyatta and Murumbi
After Jaramogi was sacked by Kenyatta in 1965, in came Joseph Murumbi who is said to have been 'so honest', to fit in the then murky political waters. True to his honesty, Murumbi resigned in 1966 to protest the disappearance of Sh3.2 million that had been donated jointly by Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt. Kenyatta appointed Daniel Moi to replace him in 1967.
Moi and Njonjo
Though Charles Njonjo fought tirelessly as the Attorney General to scuttle the plans of a Kiambu group that was opposed to Moi succeeding Kenyatta, Moi was to later fallout with Njonjo after the botched 1982 coup.
Moi saw the need to create a new inner circle of trusted friends which saw many of Kenyatta's men kicked out including Njonjo.
Moi and Matiba
Moi and Matiba started off as great business partners owing to the latter's success in the sector. Matiba later joined politics and took high profile jobs including ministerial positions in Moi's government.
However, as political pluralism picked up in the early '90s, the two became political foes leading to Matiba's detention. Many who knew the two could not fathom how Moi could detain one of his 'closest' friends.
Raila and Moi
In March 2002, few months to the General Election, Raila Odinga led his National Development Party (NDP) into joining KANU which was renamed New KANU. However, six months later after Moi failed to name Raila as his successor, he stormed out of the party together with the then Vice President George Saitoti, Kalonzo Musyoka, Musalia Mudavadi and Moody Awori.
They formed Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) which later joined with other parties to form NARC alliance that ousted KANU after 40 years in power.
Raila and Kibaki
Raila's 'marriage' with Kibaki was short-lived after Raila accused the latter of betrayal and failing to honor a 2002 pre-election pact that would have seen Raila named Kenya's second Prime Minister in 2003.
He fell out with Kibaki and even led the 'No' campaign which was opposing the 2005 proposed constitution. The 'No' won leading Kibaki to sack his whole cabinet. Raila was a casualty. The two were later to 'mend' ways leading to the birth of the grand coalition government following the disputed 2007 general elections.
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