The Mt Kenya Times 
President William Ruto and Azimio La Umoja- One Kenya Coalition Leader Raila Odinga
By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga
Worth Noting:
- Ruto would not pass to blame Raila. He would mainly train his guns on criminal elements who were taking advantage of the demonstrations to commit these atrocities.
- Going forward, I ask my brother Raila to call off the mass action and give dialogue a chance.
- As a democrat and a strong believer in rule of law and the constitution, my position is that the issues that Raila/Azimio have raised can and should be addressed through a bipartisan parliamentary process.
- My wish is to ensure we have created robust, strong democratic institutions that truly represent the will and aspirations of the Kenyan people.
A few days ago, President William Ruto and Azimio La Umoja- One Kenya Coalition Leader Raila Odinga ceded hardline stances and announced a truce.
In a speech broadcast live, the President, who spoke first, stated.
I have been listening to the demands raised by my brother Raila Odinga and his brigade which were at the core of ongoing streets demonstrations.
As we know, these demonstrations always resulted in chaos, bloody confrontations, destruction of properties and badly hurting businesses and our economy.
This is contrary to the assurances by the Azimio that they would be peaceful and the protesters would be unarmed.
As the president, I have a duty to protect the lives of Kenyans and their properties in accordance with the oath of office.
So I will not allow these protests to continue because they totally violate the spirit and letter of Article 37 of the constitution.
Ruto would not pass to blame Raila. He would mainly train his guns on criminal elements who were taking advantage of the demonstrations to commit these atrocities.
Going forward, I ask my brother Raila to call off the mass action and give dialogue a chance.
As a democrat and a strong believer in rule of law and the constitution, my position is that the issues that Raila/Azimio have raised can and should be addressed through a bipartisan parliamentary process.
My wish is to ensure we have created robust, strong democratic institutions that truly represent the will and aspirations of the Kenyan people.
This can happen if we stick to the parameters of law.
Of the demands raised by Raila, Ruto only zero in on the two: The high cost of living and a review of the composition of the seven-member panel set to recruit the new IEBC commissioners.
Just one hour after the President addressed the nation, Raila convened a press conference.
He said he agreed with Ruto that a bipartisan process through parliament is the way to go.
In view of this positive gesture, I have immediately called off the demonstrations.
As Azimio, we shall pick our team which will participate in these negotiations.
For President Ruto, he moved with speed to set up his team.
At a meeting he convened and chaired at State House Nairobi, he asked the Kenya Kwanza parliamentary leadership led by the majority leader Kimani Ichungwah to set this process in motion.
After the meeting, Ichungwah stated. We have our team ready.
We are now waiting the other side to unveil their team.
As a law-making body, the house will expeditiously deal with this matter.
Two days later, Raila stepped out and changed the goal post.
While flanked by the top leaders of Azimio, he rooted for process akin to 2008 Peace Accord.
We want the membership of the bipartisan process to be expanded to include to non-parliamentarians.
Parliament will have to wait for the final resolutions. Raila fell short of saying they will expect the house to adopt these proposals without any alterations.
As we recall, the sharing of the government on 50-50 basis was one of Raila’s key demands during the negotiations that culminated to the formation of the grand coalition government in 2008.
He had his way and he became the Prime Minister and a core-principal alongside President Mwai Kibaki.
President Ruto is privy to this because he was one of the negotiator appointed by him in the mediation talks chaired by former UN sec-gen Koffi Annan.
This time, Raila says he is not in interested in ‘nusu mkate’. Is he playing games? Can we trust him?
Going by past experiences, his endgame is to once again join the government through the back door and sit on the high table where the national cake is being shared.
In his interpretation, it seems leadership is about eating.
So he does not want to be confined to the kitchen. He wants to occupy one of the seats in the high table.
Many believe this why he becomes mute when he gets there.
In the estate, I heard a group of people saying this. Raila’s change of mind was prompted by mounting pressure from hardliners in his Azimio camp.
The reasoning was that they would be left in cold if Raila agree with the terms set by the President Ruto.
My unsolicited advise to Raila. Don’t listen to them. Their main interest is to cling on your coattail for selfish reasons.
Remember you are on your sunset years. So, you need to play your cards well in order to have a peace of mind and avoid falling into unfortunate political oblivion.
Besides, it is clear that your demonstrations are mainly attended by members of your community.
This does not augur well. The question is. Kenya has 45 tribes. How come it is only one tribe fighting Ruto?
Those around you have failed to mobilize their communities, yet they are inciting you to resume demos.
Finally, the international community has deserted you. This is unlike when you protested the loss of the previous elections.
They believe that the outcome of August 9, 2022 presidential election reflected the popular will of the people of Kenya.
As such, the results announced by the IEBC chairman in which he declared Dr William Ruto as the President-elect were credible and verifiable.
Dr Ruto’s victory was also upheld by the Supreme Court of Kenya.
The American government and Africa Union (AU) have been leading in calling on Raila to accept defeat and move on.
If you want to know this, read the text of their statements.
They have never supported these demonstrations. This is despite Raila citing Articles 1 and 37 of the constitution and insisting that the protests were legal.
The US and AU would focus on condemning acts of lawlessness that had resulted to deaths, attacks on journalists and innocent Kenyans and destruction of properties.
In view of this, Raila should call off these demonstrations and give dialogue a chance.
Media reports had earlier indicated that America had a hand in the termination of the contract of Raila Odinga as the AU High Representative for the Infrastructure Development.
This is after he failed to heed thier call to shun demos. US is a leading financier of AU work.
Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a writer and political analyst based in Nairobi
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