Azimio la Umoja leaders at a past press conference in SKM Center in Karen.
The Raila Odinga-led Azimio la Umoja One Kenya party has convened yet another crucial meeting on Monday, July 15, to take a common ground on the dialogue convened by President William Ruto after Saturday (July 13) night meeting failed to reach a consensus.
Dr Ruto and Mr Odinga are jointly pushing for a national dialogue under the proposed National Multi-Sectoral Forum that had been expected to start today for six days, a move widely seen as a plot to culminate into the formation of a Government of National Unity.
The two have since invited the participation of the youth who have been the face of the nationwide anti-government protests to the talks, generating disquiet among other Azimio leaders.
Azimio National Executive Council Chairman Wycliffe Oparanya on Sunday (July 14) evening disclosed that the coalition principals will meet in Nairobi on Monday, July 15, to chart the way forward on the dialogue discussion.
“Remember we held several anti-government protests over many issues affecting our country that now the Gen Zs have also raised.
“Several youths were killed by the police and now that President Ruto has agreed to dialogue and Kenyans, we have no reason to refuse and as Azimio we shall be holding a meeting in Nairobi tomorrow (Monday) to agree on the modalities for the talks,” Mr Oparanya said on Sunday.
He spoke after sources disclosed to Nation that the coalition principals disagreed over the dialogue during the Saturday night meeting at Mr Oparanya’s Emabole, Butere home in Kakamega County.
Insider sources at the meeting on Saturday night revealed that Mr Odinga and other coalition principals – Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper), Eugene Wamalwa (DAP-K) and Jubilee Secretary-General Jeremiah Kioni among other leaders took a parallel path, and failed to agree on the dialogue course, prompting the Monday meeting.
“The meeting was attended by the principals who had attended the burial of Mr Oparanya’s brother and also brought together some governors, senators and MPs. So the principals agreed to hold another meeting in Nairobi on Monday to take a common stand,” a source who attended the meeting told Nation.
Common stand
Mr Wamalwa also confirmed Monday’s meeting but was categorical that since the majority of the Azimio parties have expressed their reservations over dialogue, they will not be party to it.
“We are meeting tomorrow (Monday) to take a common stand but as you know already DAP-K, Wiper, Jubilee, Narc Kenya, Roots Party and even Kanu have said no dialogue.
It is the ODM party that is still talking about dialogue.
“We have just visited Kware in Embakasi South where several bodies were dumped and the people have told us three things; no dialogue, Ruto must go, dissolve parliament now so that they can elect leaders of integrity and that’s our position,” Mr Wamalwa told Nation.
He pointed out that the country had reached a point where the people now have to make a decision and “there is no other way of cleansing this parliament or government.”
“Whoever is thinking we are going to dialogue with Ruto or reconstitute the Government of National Unity with him is in for a rude shock. Ruto has no such powers to constitute such an administration because people have already passed a vote of no confidence against his Kenya Kwanza regime,” Mr Wamalwa charged.
But even as the coalition principals are set to meet again on Monday in Nairobi on the contentious dialogue issue and the possible formation of a Government of National Unity, Mr Odinga’s ODM appears to have set its sights on the talks after its Central Management Committee (CMC) meeting last Friday endorsed it.
On Tuesday, July 16, ODM has a special joint meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) and the Parliamentary Group that is widely expected to ratify the CMC decision.
“There shall be a special joint meeting of the National Executive Committee and the Parliamentary Group of ODM on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, at 9.00 am. The venue shall be communicated in due course.
Multi-sectoral forum
“We are strongly advised to attend in person, without fail,” read a text message sent to the party leadership on Saturday evening.
Nation has established that the ODM party has already prepared a raft of demands it expects to present to the multi-sectoral forum that President Ruto’s administration must agree to implement as a matter of priority.
Mr Odinga has insisted that the talks are meant to give Kenyans an opportunity for a national conversation and are not meant “to dish out jobs to the opposition.”
“We are not beggars. These talks are meant to allow Kenyans and the youth to air out their grievances and have them addressed as a matter of priority,” Mr Odinga said.
President Ruto has, however, reiterated that he is keen on forming a broad-based administration, lending credence to his plans for a Government of National Unity.
Among a raft of demands ODM is toying with for the talks include; the firing of Nairobi County Police commander Adamson Bungei following the deaths at Kware in Mukuru Kwa Njenga slums where bodies have been retrieved stashed in sacks.
“People have been killed and bodies are still being found at Kware. We said Koome (former Inspector General of Police) must leave and had even taken him to The Hague last year.
“Now he has resigned but that’s not enough, Bungei must also leave and we also want legal action taken against the Interior Cabinet Secretary (former CS Prof Kithure Kindiki) over the arbitrary killing of innocent youth,” Mr Odinga said.
Among other demands ODM party wants all police officers implicated in the murders “of over 200 innocent Kenyans in peaceful protests since last year,” apprehended, national amnesty for all persons arrested or charged in connection with protests and compensation for all victims of police brutality.
The party also wants the dialogue team to address the issue of unemployment that has adversely affected the Kenyan youth, the unending search for justice and equality, address the issue of wanton corruption in government, and negative ethnicity, and ensure ethnic and regional balance in State and civil service appointments.
Punitive taxes
The party wants the government to instil a tradition of meritocracy in appointment to public office as well as an end to unfair and punitive economic and taxation policies.
It also emerged that Mr Odinga’s camp is also seeking the dissolution of parliament after Kenyans expressed a vote of no confidence against it during the recent anti-tax protests.
“The coalition leaders have spoken in one voice that parliament has to be dissolved. They have even questioned how National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula has continued to transact House business while still clinging to his Ford-Kenya Party leadership and they hold that he must also go for betraying the people of Kenya,” a source at the Kakamega meeting told Nation.
On Sunday, Mr Odinga who had spent at Mr Oparanya’s Kakamega home after other Azimio principals left on Saturday night held a meeting with a section of area MCAs whom he reportedly whipped to back the dialogue decision taken by the party.
Mr Odinga met with 15 nominated MCAs in a three-hour breakfast meeting before he jetted to Nairobi.
An insider from the meeting said besides directing them to back the dialogue talks, he also asked them to stand with the position of the party on the change of the majority leadership in the Kakamega County Assembly.
Mr Odinga directed the assembly speaker James Namatsi to implement the letter from ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna which appointed Geoffrey Ondiro as the majority leader replacing Philip Maina.
"He asked us to ensure that the decision made by the central committee of the party regarding the assembly leadership is implemented. We shall push the speaker to have the changes honoured," revealed the source.
Support dialogue
After the meeting, Mr Oparanya and Kakamega Woman Rep Elsie Muhanda attended a church service at the Send Me Pentecostal Church at Ekumira where they declared their support for dialogue.
"We as ODM have decided that the dialogue will promote peace and unite the country. We are urging other Azimio affiliate members to join us so that we can talk together and bring stability back to our government," said Mr Oparanya
Ms Muhanda said the dialogue process was the best way to end the Gen Z protests.
"The dialogue will come with benefits including forming a government of national unity. What this means is that Azimio leaders will get government appointments," said Ms Muhanda.
"When leaders are humble and decide to talk, it means they have listened to concerns raised by young ones. Let us embrace peace and hold the talks," she added.
