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Raila-Kibaki: Friends turned enemies who changed the country's political landscape

President Mwai Kibaki and ODM leader Raila Odinga sign a coalition agreement at Harambee House, Nairobi in 2008 [File]

Fate brought fierce foes together. Competing political interests and quest of power tore them apart. Yet, President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga were to hang together or separately.

As Mr Kibaki’s term neared its end in 2013, allies of Raila pleaded with him to “rudisha mkono (return the favour)” and endorse the PM’s presidential bid.

They urged the president to consider what Raila had done for him a decade earlier, when he shelved his ambitions and sidestepped...