Kenya’s Ruto Teams Up with Odinga to Consolidate Grip on Power

Former rivals sign pact to ‘ease tensions’ in the nation
About 60 people killed in last year’s anti-government protests

William Ruto, left, and Raila Odinga in 2024.
Photographer: Simon Maina/AFP/Getty Images

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By David Herbling

March 7, 2025 at 12:48 PM UTC

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Kenyan President William Ruto signed a power-sharing agreement with opposition leader Raila Odinga on Friday, months after deadly anti-government protests shook the nation.

The political pact will see the president and his former rival — who lost the 2022 elections — work together “to ease the prevailing tensions in the country, reconcile the population,” Odinga said at the event in Nairobi.