Raila 48hours ultimatumÂ
After giving President William Ruto 48 hours to ensure that talks start or they will resume rallies, Azimio la Umoja One Kenya leader Raila Odinga put the truce between the government and the opposition to the test this week.
According to Mr. Odinga, the bipartisan committee’s discussions must start tomorrow, or Azimio will withdraw the agreement to end the protests.
The notification follows a demand that the negotiations be finished in 30 days in order to resolve the deadlock surrounding the August 2022 post-election, among other issues.
Mr. Odinga cited their Kenya Kwanza counterparts’ reluctance to start talks and accused the ruling alliance of undermining last week’s ceasefire through a lack of goodwill.
We are now observing signals of hesitation, such as claims that there is not a quorum present to start discussions, etc. We have given them today and tomorrow, and by Wednesday, serious negotiations must begin. We will take that gentleman’s agreement as canceled if their delegation is not prepared by Wednesday, and we will look at other options as Azimio, added Mr. Odinga.
Kenya Kwanza approached us and indicated they were prepared for discussions, so we acted in good faith last Thursday to end the rallies, said Mr. Odinga. “We understood that the real reason was that tourists were visiting the city at the time and they did not want demonstrations,” But since they claimed to be sincere, we acted in good faith as well.
Raila 48hours ultimatum
Announcing they had chosen attorneys Muthomi Thiankolu for Kenya Kwanza and Paul Mwangi for Azimio as joint secretaries, the committee headed by MPs Otiende Amollo and George Murugara started engagements last Friday.
He said the meeting will continue from where they ended last week with finalisation on framework agreement and related issues, decision on the form of the talks and period of the dialogue set to feature prominently.
Kakamega Senator, Boni Khalwale, a member of the committee said he is optimistic of smooth talks this week. His Nairobi counterpart Edwin Sifuna said he is hopeful the talks will yield tangible results as there is no going back should the discussions fail.