Raila calls off anti-government protests, but with a caveat
Published on: April 02, 2023 07:51 (EAT)
File photo of opposition leader Raila Odinga during previous anti-government demonstrations.
The Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition leader made the announcement in a press address at his Capitol Hill office in Nairobi.
It came just hours after President William Ruto's address in which he called on the opposition leader to do so and give way for a bipartisan parliamentary process in the recruitment of commissioners to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), which is one of the issues the opposition had raised with President Ruto's administration.
Odinga said the Azimio camp is ready for dialogue that will address the key issues they have raised.
According to the opposition leader, the decision to call off the protests came after wide consultations, including with religious leaders.
"William Ruto has issued what I regard as an important statement, we have met and listened to a lot of people, including religious leaders, they have implored us to give dialogue a chance," he said.
"We acknowledge the olive branch on dialogue, this is a positive development. We agree to a balanced parliamentary proceed co-chaired by both sides, this committee must be done immediately, including all arrests and prosecution related to demos."
At the same time, Odinga stated that the Azimio camp is prepared to resume protests if "no meaningful outcome" is reached within a week.
"We emphasize that rights to assemble are anchored in our constitution, we reserve our rights to call for demos if there is no meaningful outcome. We will resume after one week," he added.
Among the issues the Azimio camp wants to be addressed are electoral justice, high cost of living, attacks on media, attacks on democracy as well as the alleged 'buying' of MPs.
On the assembling of a new IEBC, the opposition has been accusing President Ruto of reconstituting the electoral commission "without consulting other stakeholders and interested parties."
In his address earlier, the Head of State suggested that through the bipartisan parliamentary process, the IEBC selection panel and the future recruitment of its commissioners could yield "constitutionally and legally-binding proposals."
"My suggestion is that this matter can be handled by parliament so that we can agree on what the issue is and we can adjust as agreed and as necessary," Ruto, who was flanked by his deputy Rigathi Gachagua, said.
Noting that the protests over the last two weeks have led to the killing of three people, including a police officer, and injuring at least 400 others, Ruto said: "I urge my brother Raila Odinga to call off the demonstrations and to give this bipartisan approach a chance to take this country forward."
Azimio further
issued a raft of conditions President William Ruto's administration should meet
going forward with the dialogue, such as unconditional release and withdrawal
of charges against any Azimio supporter on activities around the demonstrations.
The coalition
also called on the reinstatement of the four IEBC commissioners sacked after disowning
the 2022 General Election results that saw William Ruto announced president-elect.
Further, the
opposition said addressing the high cost of living is an irreducible minimum,
and called upon the government to go back to the subsidies applied by President
Uhuru Kenyatta's regime to cushion Kenyans from the biting cost of living.
Azimio said they're ready to embrace dialogue and engage Ruto's team towards a peaceful resolution to the problems facing the country, beginning as early as Monday.
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