Uhuru always briefed Raila on key security matters even before handshake – Matiang’i
By Ascah Mwango, October 17, 2025Former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has revealed that retired President Uhuru Kenyatta kept the late opposition leader Raila Odinga informed on major security operations long before their historic handshake in 2018, suggesting a hidden line of communication between the two rivals at the height of the country’s political tensions.
Speaking during a live interview on a local television station on Friday, October 17, 2025, Matiang’i said that Uhuru, who led the Jubilee administration from 2013 to 2022, frequently instructed top security officials to update Raila on critical security matters, even when the opposition was leading mass protests against his rule.
“Before the handshake, President Kenyatta had this interest that when we were taking a major action… alituambia tukishamaliza hii maneno tunafanya, ‘give Raila a call and mention to him this is what we are doing ili nao waelewe’,” Matiang’i said, mixing English and Kiswahili to emphasise the president’s direct instructions.
The disclosure sheds new light on the behind-the-scenes relationship between the two leaders during a period of deep political division that followed Kenya’s disputed 2017 presidential elections.
The opposition, led by Raila under the National Super Alliance (NASA), had rejected the results of both the August election and the court-ordered repeat poll in October, accusing the government of massive electoral fraud.
In the months that followed, Nairobi and other opposition strongholds were rocked by frequent anti-government demonstrations, many of which ended violently.
Several protesters were injured or killed in confrontations with police, deepening mistrust between the government and the opposition.
Yet Matiang’i’s account suggests that, behind the scenes, there were efforts by Uhuru to keep communication channels with Raila open — a gesture that may have paved the way for their surprise truce months later.
2018 handshake
On March 9, 2018, Uhuru and Raila appeared together on the steps of Harambee House, the president’s office in Nairobi, and shook hands before the cameras.
The moment, quickly dubbed ‘The Handshake’, ended months of political hostilities and ushered in a new era of cooperation between Raila and Uhuru.
The handshake led to the launch of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), a national unity project that sought to address long-standing issues of ethnic division, governance, and inequality.
Although BBI was later nullified by the Supreme Court, the handshake dramatically altered the country’s political landscape and set the stage for alliances that defined the 2022 general election.
Matiang’i’s revelation adds a new dimension to how the rapprochement between Uhuru and Raila took shape — not as a sudden political decision, but as the culmination of months of discreet engagement and trust-building between two men who had once stood on opposite sides of the country’s bitter political divide.