Raila threatens protests if Ruto ignores call for talks

Author: Chany Ninrew | Published: May 9, 2023

Raila Odinga (Photographer: Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images.)

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga has threatened to unleash waves of countrywide protests if President William Ruto ignores his demand for talks in 48 hours.

The Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition leader has been calling for a bipartisan committee to negotiate on the 2022 post-election stalemate, the cost of living crisis and other issues.

Odinga has accused Ruto of stealing the election and of failing to control surging cost of living that is hitting Kenyans hard.

The veteran opposition leader said the Kenya Kwanza alliance of President Ruto is reluctant to begin discussions and has frustrated last week’s truce through lack of goodwill.

“Now we are seeing signs of reluctance, saying they don’t have a quorum to begin discussions and so on. We have given them today and tomorrow and talks must start in earnest by Wednesday,” he said at a news conference, as reported by Nation newspaper.

Odinga now said his coalition is ready to explore other options available, should the committee not resume its engagement withing two days.

“If their delegation is not ready by Wednesday, we will treat that gentleman’s agreement as cancelled and we will explore other options available to us as Azimio,” he said.

Last Thursday, President Ruto had appealed to the opposition to call off protests saying he is ready to negotiate with them.

According to Odinga, President Ruto only wanted the demonstrations called off because of the high-profile leaders who visited the country including Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

“We knew that the real reason was because visitors were coming to town and they did not want demonstrations that time. But we did act in good faith ourselves because they said they were serious.”

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