‘Talk about what? Kenyans want change’: Ekuru Aukot dismisses Ruto-Raila proposal

Thirdway Alliance party leader Ekuru Aukot has rubbished President William Ruto’s call for dialogue with Kenyans following the recent anti-government protests.

Ruto and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Tuesday announced a six-day multi-sectoral dialogue forum drawing representatives from political parties, religious groups, civil society, employers and youth to discuss issues pressing Kenyans beginning Monday, July 15.

In an interview with Citizen TV on Thursday, Aukot dismissed the talks as a politician-led deviation from the issues Kenyans want addressed.

He dismissed Ruto’s dialogue call, saying the government is yet to even acknowledge and apologise for the killings and violence meted out on Kenyans during the protests against the Finance Bill, 2024.

“You cannot dialogue with a person who has not even apologised to you… Talk about what? What Kenyans are asking for is results, change and accountability,” said Aukot.

“Let us not divert; this is just another handshake loading,” he added, referring to Odinga’s political truce with retired president Uhuru Kenyatta on March 9, 2018, after 2017’s disputed presidential election results.

According to the Thirdway Alliance leader, Ruto’s government is fooling Kenyans.

“You cannot deny that there were disappearances and deaths and that people were shot. The statistics are there and this is the age of technology; you cannot fool people,” he said.

More than 39 people were killed in the demonstrations between June 18 and July 1, according to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, which reported 361 injuries, 32 cases of "enforced or involuntary disappearances" and 627 arrests of protesters.

However, President Ruto’s government has denied that police officers were involved in abductions and even defended the conduct of plainclothes police officers, who were linked to the abductions and killings.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has said the government will take action against “claims of abductions and enforced disappearances allegedly perpetrated by security personnel” during the protests.

Ruto eventually declined to assent to the Bill after mounting public pressure, instead announcing austerity measures to cover the budgetary provisions that the Bill sought to raise through increased taxation.

In Aukot’s view, the President has put the country “into a dysfunctional state.” He cited Ruto’s signing of the Appropriations Bill, 2024 into law after the Finance Bill was withdrawn.

“How do you sign an Appropriations Bill, which is an expenditure law, without a Finance Bill, which is how you collect the money? By deleting an entire Bill, you are telling Kenyans that we do not have a House that can legislate for you, that can pass a law that is of common good to people,” he said.

“The lies from back to 2022 are now catching up on him and his government. You overpromised people knowing very well that you were lying to them and that is why we are dealing with a dysfunctional government.”

Ruto and Raila’s dialogue push has however been met with backlash from Kenyan youth, who maintain that they want accountability from the government.

Following Tuesday’s announcement, a section of youth on social media questioned Odinga's capacity in the talks as they distanced themselves from being represented by political figures.

“Raila, as you go ahead and dialogue, kindly don't involve us. Discuss your private matters. You don't speak on our behalf,” X user 5peopleke wrote.

Similarly, Narc Kenya party leader Martha Karua, who was Odinga's presidential running mate in the 2022 General Election termed the move "a trap" likely to benefit “a handful of elites.”

"Let’s be careful as the political class lest we hijack the genuine clamour for accountability and reforms by the Gen-Z. This is a trap period," Karua wrote on X.

The Wiper Party, a member of Odinga’s Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition, has also instead called on the government to address the issues Kenyans raised during the recent protests rather than pushing for a meeting with their so-called representatives.