Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Sunday, April 9, declared that Azimio Chief Raila Odinga must recognise William Ruto as the president before they could engage in any talks.
Speaking during a church service in Mathira, Gachagua clarified that the talks brokered are between Raila and the parliament and not between him and the president.
He insisted that it was Odinga who approached Ruto on April 1, seeking a way out after hitting a deadlock with the mass action.
"That is why we told him to talk in Parliament but ourselves (him and Ruto), we cannot engage Raila. Before we do, he must first acknowledge in public that Ruto is the President of Kenya," Gachagua stated.
In a thinly veiled attack, he noted that Raila could not measure up to him or his boss because he did not have the authority to speak on behalf of the people and that some of his demands were a punch above his weight.
"We told him to advise his MPs, because they are elected, to speak to ours. But we cannot talk to him, and on what grounds? Who is he in Kenya?
"He is just an ordinary citizen, he is not elected by anybody. Let them go to the Parliament and engage our MPs and they will tell us what he said. We have no time," Rigathi declared.
The DP called out Raila over his silence over the cost of living and the state of the economy during the handshake regime. He argued that if he raised an alarm, things would not have escalated to the current levels.
His sentiments came amid heated exchange between him and Odinga over the truce and who reached out to the other for a ceasefire.
On April 6, ODM Secretary Edwin Sifuna revealed that the opposition chief had instructed them to ignore any comments on the bipartisan talks except those by Ruto.
Sifuna explained that Raila did not want any comments that would jeopardise the recently brokered truce and ordered that any communication on the same should be made from him.
Azimio named seven members, two senators and five MPs, who would represent the party in the talks with the Kenya Kwanza government.
Kenya Kwanza side, is scheduled to unveil its representatives on Tuesday, April 11, when the faction holds its Parliamentary Group meeting.
