The government of the Kenya Kwanza Alliance government needs to prepare for a Handshake with the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Coalition, according to Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.

Instead, the DP has urged the Azimio leaders to focus on fortifying the opposition party in Parliament and keeping President William Ruto's administration on its toes.

Following a handshake with Azimio leader Mr Raila Odinga in 2018, the DP claimed that the previous administration of Mr Uhuru Kenyatta wasted five years. He claimed that the present government would not dare to make the same mistake.

Moreover, Mr Gachagua indicated that the government has no plans to silence the opposition.


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"We have no desire to intimidate the opposition in any way. We claim that we don't require a handshake because we genuinely want to strengthen the resistance. Also, there will be no handshakes with anyone, stressed DP Gachagua.

However, he added that the opposition is welcome to communicate with the government if they want to discuss development-related issues.

"We are prepared to speak with those persons about development-related issues. We do not want them to join the administration; we want the opposition to remain robust.

The DP has also urged the opposition lawmakers in the National Assembly to collaborate closely with the ruling party to modify the constitution to allow for the establishment and total funding of an opposition leader's office.


The DP claims that the opposition will be better equipped to carry out its monitoring duties than it currently can because the opposition leader needs an office.

It is in response to Johnson Sakaja, the county governor of Nairobi, calling for cooperation between the government and the opposition.

The President's suggestion to establish the formal Opposition Leader's office aligns with the DP's comments.

The President and his administration have come under fire from the Azimio leader for attempting to implement some of the recommendations made in the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report.