Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has defended former Prime Minister Raila Odinga's meeting with President William Ruto and his subsequent endorsement of a dialogue forum.
The former Prime Minister was criticised online on Tuesday for backing a dialogue that the Head of State had fronted.
In his defence, Sifuna revealed that Raila, who is politically referred to as Baba, did not meet the President as a representative of the protesters, a majority of whom are Gen Zs.
He further argued that he represented Azimio la Umoja and the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) which he leads.
"Baba did not say he had gone to speak on behalf of Gen Z, they told him they are leaderless and reminded him that he is not their leader," Sifuna posed in an interview with The Standard.
"But for Baba, there are people he leads. So not everybody is leaderless or party-less. I have a party and I am its secretary general."
The Senator further argued that it was fair for the opposition leader to chart his dialogue with the government especially since he had been excluded from a space Ruto held with the youth on Friday last week.
"We have a stake in the country and we cannot just stay silent as things continue to happen. What we are saying is that tyranny is wrong," he added.
"They did their X Space with the President, did you see Sifuna or Raila there? So if Raila goes for talks, he is a leader and the leaders want to talk too."
A section of Kenyans had expressed their dissatisfaction with the two leaders resolving to dialogue to sort out issues raised by protesters over a three-week period.
In a press conference the two leaders held, Ruto announced the formation of a multi-sectoral forum to expedite the issues raised by anti-government protesters.
"This will be a six-day forum and will propose the way forward for the country. In the interest that we live within our means, all participants will bear their costs of attendance," he stated.
The former Prime Minister, who was flanked by Hassan Joho and Kalonzo Musyoka, backed Ruto's decision to form a committee noting that contentious issues such as the cost of living were part of the discussions.
“I can confirm that we have had consultations and after the consultations, we have agreed that a dialogue is the way forward out of the crisis that we have had as a country,” Raila stated.
His youngest son, Raila Odinga Jr, however, distanced himself from the decision appealing to Kenyans, "Everybody is an individual, please! Even people with the same exact names."
