United Democratic Alliance (UDA) on Tuesday, April 04, warned Azimio's leader Raila Odinga against pushing for the revival of the National Accord and Reconciliation Act of 2008.
In the statement, UDA accused Raila and the Azimio leadership of hoodwinking the nation in the guise of protests to lower the cost of living.
"Raila should not mistake the President's Olive branch in this Holy Month as a sign of cowardice.
"We call upon the Azimio leader to recognize that there is a legitimate government in Kenya delivering the promises made to the electorate and implementing its pre-election agenda," UDA Secretary General Cleophas Malala cautioned, adding that President William Ruto did not call for a truce out of fear.
He further argued that Raila wanted a piece of the nation, a power-sharing formula or Nusu Mkate from the onset.
"Hon Raila Odinga, in his statement, has confirmed our worst fears that Maadamano was not genuine from the onset but a blatant thirst and hunger for power through the back door.
"In making these unreasonable demands, Raila Odinga has demonstrated his intention to hold the Bipartisan Parliamentary Process as suggested by The President at ransom," the statement read in part.
Echoing what Ruto spoke in Rwanda on Tuesday, April 4, UDA remarked that every discussion with the opposition would be anchored in the constitution.
"Formation of any body, not legally recognized by the constitution or statute law amounts to living in utopia and broad daylight hallucination.
"We want to categorically state that, we as a party, shall not accept any process that is outside the purview of the constitution or offends the law as established," the party declared its position in the bipartisan approach.
Raila in an earlier statement had disagreed with Ruto's side that talks should be confined to parliament chambers.
"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 on Tuesday, April 4, 2023.
While speaking in Rwanda, Ruto had categorically stated that there would be no fusion of government with the opposition.
"In our context, a handshake means something else. It is a system where the government is fused with the Opposition to create a mongrel where there is no accountability. We don't want to go back to such a system of governance," the President had outlined his idea for the bipartisan approach.
Raila in an apparent agreement with Ruto noted that he was not interested in any form of a handshake.
"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," he remarked.
