Operation Linda Jamii, a lobby group, on Monday, threatened to mobilise its members and other players and march to the Bomas of Kenya and takeover the national dialogue talks being held by representatives of the two main political formations in the country.
The group led by Prof Fred Ogola, expressed its concerns over the direction that the talks are taking claiming that the National Dialogue Committee co-chaired by former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Icgung'wah is looking at ways to amend the constitution.
The activist noted that the 5 major issues set to be discussed by the two teams touch on the basic structure of the constitution, can only be conducted by a non-state actor.
“They should allow Operation Linda Jamii initiative that had already begun the process to initiate constitutional change,” the statement from the lobby group read in part.
Ogola revealed that the group had already collected signatures to initiate constitutional change aimed at addressing most of the issues to be discussed by the dialogue committee.
“We remain steadfast in restating that the amendment of the constitution of Kenya through a popular initiative is a means of the exercise of direct democracy which can only be exercised by the people of Kenya and not their representatives so as not to convolute the form of democracy at play,” the group stated.
Ogola noted that the lobby group's attempts to amend the constitution have been delayed by the vacuum in the leadership of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), which has stopped the group from presenting the required signatures to kickstart the initiative.
Prof. Ogola contended that if President William Ruto was genuine in his attempts to solve the issues affecting the country, he should reach out to the lobby group to ensure that the constitution amendment process becomes citizen-led instead of being initiated by politicians.
Ogola further warned about the possibility of a change in the constitution gobbling up billions of taxpayer money.
The National Dialogue Team, consisting of leaders from Kenya Kwanza and Azimio, is focused on discussing electoral justice, incorporating development funds into the constitution, and establishing and solidifying the roles of state officers.
Additional topics on the agenda include; commitment to political parties, as well as unresolved constitutional matters such as the two-thirds gender rule.
However, Linda Jamii has questioned why Azimio prioritized the issue of the high cost of living for discussion but omitted police reforms from the list of topics.
“Kenyans who embraced the calls for mass action steered towards compelling the government to bring down the cost of living were subjected to and faced with unimaginable brutality. Today, police brutality that Azimio la Umoja cried foul about does not form part of the items agenda that is being discussed by the National Dialogue Committee,” the lobby stated.
