When President William Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga were announcing their new found partnership, on Friday March 7, 2025 some of the key Kenya Kwanza leaders were missing in action.

They include National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula and the Prime CS Musalia Mudavadi. The two leaders have previously supported Raila for presidency but their  conspicuous absence sparked speculations about their political stance.

The two were however engaged in other official duties with Mudavadi representing President Ruto in events Bomet and Kakamega counties. This however came after a Kenya Kwanza Parliamentary Group meeting at Statehouse early in the morning and another meeting at his office at 10 am..

Wetang’ula on the other was at Kimilili where he commissioned a classroom project and later proceeded to attend the requiem mass of former IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati.

Following the discussions that have been centred on their absence at the MoU signing between Raila and Ruto, the National Assembly speaker has come clear the air, revealing that he played a very important role before the agreement.

“Recently, we saw our president had joined forces with ODM leader and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. In some newspapers, I saw them questioning where Wetangula and Musalia were,” Wetangula stated while in Elgeyo Marakwet. “I want you to know that the committee of our leadership in our team that sits to decide these heavy things, the convener is Papa wa Roma (Wetangula). We want a united Kenya because Kenya is a unitary state.”

Wetang’ula said that the UDA-ODM pact was the right direction for Kenya.

History of Raila and Ruto union

This is however not the first time Ruto and Raila are joining forces. Ruto was once a member of ODM Party after ditching KANU.  Together with Raila, Mudavadi, the late Joe Nyaga and Najib , they formed the powerful political group, Pentagon. Ruto had intended to vie for presidency in the 2007 elections but  lost to Raila during the party primaries. He supported Raila in the elections  but Mwai Kibaki won. The aftermath of the elections however led to the formation of the grand coalition government where Raila became the Prime Minister with Uhuru Kenyatta and Mudavadi as his deputies.

Ruto would then ditch Raila to form an alliance with Kenyatta, a move that saw them clinch the presidency in 2013 and 2017 beating Raila and other candidates.

What Ruto and Raila Agreed On In Their  New Partnership

Ruto and Raila and agreed to work together again after agreeing on a 10-point agenda, which includes;

• Full implementation of the National Dialogue Committee report
• Stop wastage of public resources.
• Fighting corruption
• Protecting sovereignty, ending abduction and respecting the rule of law.
• Audit of the national debt and how the debt was used.
• Right to peaceful assembly and compensation of victim
• Protection and strengthening of devolution
• Leadership with integrity and ending of opulence
• Inclusivity in budget allocations and public appointments
• Economic investments in youths