How did Raila Odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta work together in the Building Bridges Initiative?

Following a period of political tension, Raila Odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta reconciled in March 2018 in a high-profile event popularly known as "the handshake," which served as a symbol of bipartisanship.12

Following this reconciliation, the two leaders collaborated on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), a task force established to engage with citizens across Kenya to identify the country's most significant challenges and propose solutions. The task force released its report in November 2019, which included recommendations for greater power sharing among Kenya's various ethnic groups.12

These recommendations were subsequently adopted into a constitutional amendment bill that passed both houses of parliament in May 2021. However, the initiative faced legal challenges from critics who argued the process was a political power play and unconstitutional. Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled in March 2022 that the amendment bill was unconstitutional because it utilized a constitutional provision intended for ordinary citizens rather than a sitting president, effectively halting the implementation of the BBI recommendations.123