Azimio La Umoja leader Raila Odinga on Wednesday, May 10, accused President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza government of crippling Jubilee party, an affiliate of Azimio La Umoja coalition party.
Raila warned that attempts by the Kenya Kwanza administration to interfere with the affairs of the former ruling party could lead to the collapse of the ongoing bipartisan talks.
The former prime minister was reacting to a letter by the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party, supporting demands by the Jubilee Party on the bipartisan talks.
“The latest show of this contempt is the letter by UDA-backing Jubilee members demanding the inclusion of Jubilee as a party in the talks, failure to which they will seek redress in court. Kenya Kwanza is clearly working through its hired backers to scuttle the talks or cripple them through endless litigation,” Raila stated.
In a statement, Raila revealed he was disturbed by efforts by Kenya Kwanza to cripple Jubilee party.
“It would have been easy for Azimio to ignore these attempts by errant Jubilee members who now pledge loyalty to UDA were it not that these actions are sponsored from the highest levels of the Kenya Kwanza regime,” read part of Raila’s statement.
Raila stated that the continued attacks on Azimio was a State sponsored assault on multi- party democracy.
The opposition leader at the same time accused the Kenya Kwanza government of dishonesty in the process of dialogue where respect for the autonomy of political parties was one of the agenda.
The Azimio leader warned that attempts by the Kenya Kwanza administration to interfere with affiliate parties within the coalition risks scuttling a very serious national agenda of the bipartisan talks.
“We remind Kenya Kwanza a final time that we did not agree to engage in talks because we are weak, we remain committed to the spirit of peace and stability that necessitated the talks,” Raila narrated.
Raila’s statement was released a day after the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) MP Kanini Kega, on Wednesday, May 10, wrote to the bipartisan committee pushing for the inclusion of a member of the Jubilee party.
In a letter, Kega lamented that after Eldas MP Adan Keynan stepped down from the line-up, the party did not have representation in the talks.
The EALA lawmaker noted that the exclusion of the party, which was the third largest party in parliament would have a negative impact on the electoral system in the country.
“We write to protest the exclusion of the Jubilee Party in the proposed membership of your committee. The proposed mandate of your committee will have far-reaching implications in our electoral process in which Jubilee Party is a major stakeholder.
On the same note Kega issued a 14-day ultimatum after which the party would take legal action if a member of Jubilee was not included in the committee.
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