Azimio la Umoja coalition leader Raila Odinga on Tuesday, April 4, countered the agreement with the Kenya-Kwanza administration, noting that he sought to have a conversation at the national level that resembled the 2008 agreement under the National Accord.
In a press briefing, Raila indicated that a purely based Parliamentary process could not achieve the bi-partisan agreement arrived at by the two parties. He added that the Azimio team had formulated a committee of 14 members who would make the decision and take it to Parliament for approval.
"We want this process to be akin to that Kofi Annan led. We want it to be a people-driven process," the ODM party leader added.
"A purely parliamentary process will not serve the intended purpose on the issues we raised. Our suggestion is to have a conversation at the national level through a process a kin to 2008 National Accord," he stated.
Raila further clarified that he was not interested in a handshake or a power-sharing model, commonly described as Nusu Mkate as it may be perceived. Such rhetorics, he argued, were propagated by the government.
"We will have our members of parliament negotiating with their members of parliament, but we will also have a team to which that team negotiating is going to be reporting to. There will be no handshake, but an engagement in Parliament. Whatever can be resolved will be resolved.
"We have a government and opposition. We don’t want democracy to be undermined," he once again added, raising more speculation on the agreement and the approach that will be taken. We have never talked about a handshake. That is a language coming from the other side. I don’t even want to shake Gachagua's hand," he explained.
Moreover, he was adamant that the opposition will not be coerced into an agreement that does not augur well with them.
"We assure our people and Kenyans that our eyes are firmly on the ball and reiterate that we shall go back to the people at the earliest sign of lack of seriousness by the other side," Raila reiterated.
While disputing rumours that he physically met with the president for the truce talks, the Azimio leader indicated that the Kenya Kwanza administration would be tasked to comply with their demands.
"We are not a colony of the United States; we do things as Kenyans. We are happy when our international friends make suggestions on how we should solve our issues, but ultimately, Kenyan problems must be solved by Kenyan leaders," he stated.
Raila also claimed that Ruto's State House briefing on Sunday, April 2, fell short of their expectations due to the discussions between their parties.
"Ruto made his statement. That was not the basis of the understanding between the parties that were negotiating. That statement fell short of what had been agreed and they know it. That's why in our own statement we reiterated firmly what was going to be the basis of our engagement with Kenya Kwanza," the opposition leader pointed out.
On Sunday, April 2, the opposition leader concurred with Ruto on the parliamentary approach, indicating that Ruto reached out to him, to call off the protests.
"Ruto has asked Azimio and me to enter into a constitutional, open-ended, and binding dialogue with his government to resolve the issues that we in Azimio have raised about the last year’s election and key governance and cost of living issues facing our country.
"We agree that a balanced parliamentary process co-chaired by both sides and backed by experts is an appropriate way to proceed," he added.
Meanwhile, while speaking in Rwanda, on Tuesday, April 4, President Ruto as well rejected any push for a handshake, indicating that the two parties will handle the dialogue constitutionally.
"Five months after the election, they emerged with allegations from a whistleblower they refused to name. But as I said before, where we are right now, it does not matter who is right or wrong. The most important thing is to find solutions to our challenges," he clarified that he agreed to peace talks to put Kenya (his house) in order.
"In our context, a handshake means something else. It is a system where the government is fused with the Opposition to create a mongrel with no accountability. We don't want to go back to such a system of governance," Ruto watered down any questions regarding power-sharing formulas.
