Since President Ruto and Azimio leader Raila Odinga came to terms to have dialogue for the country and suspend ongoing mass actions, something strange has happened.
All of a sudden, the UDA noisemakers like DP Gachagua and his friend Kimani Ichungwah who have been screaming at Kenyans 24/7 in every media outlet they could get have nothing to talk about anymore.
These guys are going to be irrelevant very soon and Aden Duale is struggling to get into the debate after failing in his job of dealing with the bandits and Al Shabaab killing Kenyans.
The only thing these UDA merchants of extremism have been talking about has been Azimio and lately, the maandamanos have been their big topic. Now there is no mass action and they have nothing to talk about. Good. Without Azimio’s actions, these UDA extremists have nothing to do and no life. That is where they belong.
Today Raila Odinga the Azimio leader did the country a big favor by telling Kenyans the dialogue between Ruto and Azimio is not about handshakes which is the obsession of UDA extremists like Gachagua who think they need to put Ruto in a box and hold the key to that box.
Azimo la Umoja leader Raila Odinga has said that he has no interest in shaking hands with Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
Odinga also denied that he is after a handshake with President William Ruto’s government.
“We have never talked about a handshake, that is a language coming from the other side,” said Odinga.
While addressing the press after meeting a section of Azimio leaders, Odinga said that they will not relent on issues they want to be addressed by the government and will not hesitate to go back to the streets if they are not.
According to Odinga the government called for a truce and sent emissaries to meet Azimio leaders. He criticized the address given by President Ruto on Sunday evening saying that it fell short of what had been discussed at the meeting. He dismissed reports that he had met President Ruto in Masai Mara.
He said the ruling administration must address the cost of living adding that the matter was affecting all Kenyans. “This meeting agreed that the high cost of living is urgent and can’t wait.”
He said that the government must take steps to reduce the cost of maize flour to Sh100 as was during the election time.
“We know many of our people can put bread on the table,” said Odinga adding that the coalition will not rest until the matter is resolved.
“We further resolved that the Kenya Kwanza must take immediate steps to lower the cost of fuel and to freeze on the recent increase in the cost of living.
He said the leaders resolved that there should be a forensic audit of election servers adding that it was necessary and urgent and Kenyans need to know the truth of what transpired during the 2022 general elections.
“We understand that there are some people who are tampering with the servers they need to know that we are watching them,” Odinga said.
On the contentious issue of the constitution of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) selection panel, Azimio says that the reforms are urgent and necessary for future elections.
The main focus in the dialogue is going to be direct negotiations and commitments from the two primary leaders in this dialogue, namely, President William Ruto and Azimio leader Raila Odinga in addressing issues that Kenyans are going to present to them publicly in front of the whole country. That is where Kenyans will be looking to find real solutions.
There have been all sorts of nonsense spewed out there to pollute the negotiation table. Some crooks came up with the idea that Ruto threatened to take Raila to the ICC to force him to have talks and call off the demos. That is just straight rubbish. Governments don’t call the ICC because those governments have the power to prosecute lawbreakers in the countries they run.
You call in the ICC when the government is committing crimes and the victims have nobody to protect their rights like when journalists are being brutalized by the state. On and On it goes. Ignore it. The talks will be on later this week. That is what is important. We will be there as Kenyans.
Let the country deal with real issues like this practical response from Azimio to President Ruto after Azimio had a meeting.
DELIBERATIONS OF AZIMIO LEADERSHIP SINCE LAST SUNDAY:
This has been a meeting of the Azimio leadership to deliberate further on the development since last Sunday.
– The meeting reiterated our commitment to the envisaged dialogue between the parties.
-It further reiterated our determination to see all our core issues on the table as follows:
1. Addressing the cost of living. This meeting agreed that high cost of living is urgent and cant wait.
2. Audit of servers. This meeting agreed that Auditing the 2022 election servers is necessary and urgent.
3. Reform and reconstitution of the IEBC. This meeting agreed that electoral reforms are urgent and necessary for future elections
4. Fidelity to the letter and spirit of multiparty democracy in parliament.
– We also touched on other areas including: Composition of the Bipartisan Committee, Implementation of the recommendations, and Involvement of leaders outside parliament.
– It is the resolution of this meeting that a purely parliamentary process may not serve the intended ends. Our suggestion is to have a conversation at the national level through a process akin to the 2008 National Accord. To this end the coalition proposes a team drawn from its ranks both in Parliament and outside Bunge.
-We emphasize that all the issues we have laid out in Public carry equal weight to us although high cost of living must be addressed urgently. In this regard we resolved that the regime must take immediate steps to bring back the cost of unga to Kshs. 100 as at the time of the election. We further resolved that Kenya Kwanza must take immediate steps to lower the cost of fuel and put a freeze on the recent increase in cost of electricity. These are not matters for a committee.
Further we have resolved that the state must immediately take up the cost or waive all medical bills of the victims of police brutality including journalists, and the last expense costs of those who lost their lives.
Finally, we assure our people and Kenyans that our eyes are firmly on the ball, and reiterate that we shall go back to the people as the earliest sign of lack of seriousness by the other side
AZIMIO ONE KENYA COALITION
4th April, 2023.
