A collage of President William Ruto and Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Kenyans.co.ke
President William Ruto on Monday, April 3, met with Parliament leaders to develop a framework that the Kenya Kwanza side will front as part of its bipartisan strategy.
Ruto noted that his senior government official will focus on development programmes while Parliament attends to the bipartisan approaches.
"We have asked the Parliamentary leadership of both houses to consider our proposal for a bipartisan approach to addressing the matters raised by the Opposition as a priority," Ruto noted.
Among the people who met the President were National Assembly Majority leader Kimani Ichung'wah and his senate counterpart Aaron Cheruiyot.
A group of Diplomats (Left) and Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua (Right) during the launch of North and North Eastern Development Leadership Consultative Forum on Tuesday, April 4, 2023.
Kenyans.co.ke
While President Ruto is yet to release his hidden cards, Political Pundits weighed in on the ongoing dynamics, noting that the President was formulating multi-pronged mechanisms to deal with Azimio Leader Raila Odinga's demands.
"President Ruto will not have a handshake with Raila but will allow institutions to play their role. We need to bring reforms through institutions and not personalities," Political Analyst Owen Baya observed.
Similarly, Political analyst Martin Andati explained that the country should expect both President Ruto and Raila to take hardline positions in the preliminary stages of the Bipartisan Approach.
"Ruto will most likely stick to his old views on the number of IEBC Commissioners, but Raila will possibly seek to have people in the commission -- something similar to IPPG," Andati explained.
Andati also observed that the two major coalitions, Azimio and Kenya Kwanza, will demand an equal stake in the electoral commission.
The analysts also agreed that by accepting dialogue, President Ruto simply called his troops in Parliament and those of Azimio to agree on how the new commissioners will be picked.
"The number of IEBC commissioners will most likely be expanded to nine or thirteen. This will give both major coalitions a stake in the commission in order to erase doubts in the electoral processes."
"At the same time, they will introduce other issues including Leader of the Opposition, Third Gender Rule, Prime Minister Position -- just another version of BBI," Andati noted.
The pundits observed that the Head of State was open to honest, objective and sincere deliberations based on the rule of law and the Constitution.
"Raila is creating a platform for the 2027 election by reconstituting IEBC. We cannot continue changing the referees because of a bad player. A referee cannot make a bad player win a game," Baya stated.
While Cabinet Administrative Secretary (CAS) Isaac Mwaura noted the country needs to redefine patriotism so that people are not just patriotic to their political party but more to the country.
"Media should be more responsible in reporting political issues; IEBC should also be empowered to tell the other side of the story since other media houses are primarily against the government," Mwaura stated.
Azimio will hold a Parliamentary Group meeting in Machakos on Thursday, April 6, to discuss Ruto's bipartisan proposal on IEBC selection.
The Kenya Kwanza coalition held its caucus on Tuesday, April 4, to discuss the same issues.
From Left, Former President Uhuru Kenyatta, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and President William Ruto.
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