{"id":3387,"date":"2025-02-22T06:53:05","date_gmt":"2025-02-22T06:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/?p=3387"},"modified":"2025-03-31T09:32:42","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T09:32:42","slug":"wafula-buke-the-men-and-women-behind-raila-odingas-politics-and-handshakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/2025\/02\/22\/wafula-buke-the-men-and-women-behind-raila-odingas-politics-and-handshakes\/","title":{"rendered":"Wafula Buke: The Men and Women Behind Raila Odinga\u2019s Politics and handshakes"},"content":{"rendered":"<ol>\n<li>By:Naima Yarrow<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Former Raila Odinga insider Wafula Buke has blamed the opposition leader\u2019s inner circle for his political missteps, citing a reliance on a closed kitchen cabinet.<\/p>\n<p>Buke revealed that during Odinga\u2019s bid for the African Union Commission (AUC) chairmanship, former UNCTAD chief Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi offered to help\u2014but was ignored.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Did Raila Odinga call to ask for your support?&#8221; Buke asked.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Actually, I called him. I asked if I could be useful,&#8221; Kituyi replied.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Certainly. I will get back to you,&#8221; Odinga said\u2014but never did.<\/p>\n<p>Buke also faults Odinga\u2019s 2022 campaign team for incompetence, particularly in recruiting and managing polling agents.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I called Raila and proposed competent people. He rejected my advice, saying, \u2018This time round, we are going to rely on the enemy. They know it better.\u2019&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"U1PRdQD9gh\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/2025\/02\/19\/i-prayed-id-survive-womans-relief-as-police-recover-stolen-car\/\">Woman\u2019s relief as police recover stolen car<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Woman\u2019s relief as police recover stolen car&#8221; &#8212; Newsroom Hub\" src=\"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/2025\/02\/19\/i-prayed-id-survive-womans-relief-as-police-recover-stolen-car\/embed\/#?secret=qDTVEv1ozM#?secret=U1PRdQD9gh\" data-secret=\"U1PRdQD9gh\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>The Inner Circle Shaping Odinga\u2019s Fortunes<\/h3>\n<p>Oburu Odinga \u2013 Raila\u2019s elder brother and ultimate decision-maker. He reportedly canceled a grand reception for Raila in Nairobi after his return from Addis Ababa.<\/p>\n<p>Ida Odinga \u2013 Raila\u2019s wife, a key influencer in political decisions and lobbying. She allegedly softened Odinga\u2019s resolve after his 2018 swearing-in at Uhuru Park.<\/p>\n<p>Junet Mohammed \u2013 Raila\u2019s most trusted political operator, known for sidelining independent voices and turning political situations into financial opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>Wycliffe Oparanya \u2013 Raila\u2019s Luhya point man, tasked with ensuring regional loyalty and managing campaign resources.<\/p>\n<p>John Mbadi \u2013 A loyal aide who executes Raila\u2019s directives but lacks Junet\u2019s influence.<\/p>\n<p>Buke insists these figures are responsible for Raila\u2019s setbacks.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These people shape Raila\u2019s fortunes. Now you have an idea of what the future holds,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Odinga\u2019s career has been defined by shifting alliances, from KANU in 1997 to the Grand Coalition with Mwai Kibaki in 2008 and the 2018 handshake with Uhuru Kenyatta. His latest engagement with President William Ruto raises fresh questions about his political trajectory.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By:Naima Yarrow Former Raila Odinga insider Wafula Buke has blamed the opposition leader\u2019s inner circle for his political missteps, citing&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-county","category-politics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/77777.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3387"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3479,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3387\/revisions\/3479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}