Good morning,
The much-touted bipartisan talks between the ruling Kenya Kwanza Alliance and Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition are at risk of collapsing after Opposition leaders threatened to pull out.
While the Kenya Kwanza administration insists that the talks be conducted purely through Parliament, Azimio leader Raila Odinga and other coalition bigwigs yesterday demanded that the process be conducted out of Parliament with the role of the two Houses being to ratify the agreements reached at the end of the negotiations.
Yesterday, Azimio leaders instructed their seven delegates to the talks not to engage in a parliamentary initiative triggered by the Kenya Kwanza leadership through a notice of motion that Leader of Majority Kimani Ichung’wah wrote to the National Assembly Speaker on Friday.
Led by Raila, the Azimio chiefs who included Kalonzo Musyoka of the Wiper Party and Martha Karua of Narc-Kenya threatened to disengage if Kenya Kwanza continues to insist that it must be conducted as a parliamentary process. They argued that the parliamentary process has many constraints and they want the 14-member team to be excused from other duties to focus on the talks.
Azimio also wants the process to be guided by a six-point agenda that will include bringing down the cost of living, opening presidential election servers for audit, making the process of hiring electoral commissioners more inclusive and putting an end to the poaching of opposition MPs to join the government side.
They also want the ‘Cherera Four’ electoral commissioners who resigned to be reinstated.
Which party do you think will crack first to pave way for the bipartisan talks to go on?
Meanwhile, here are news stories making headlines on Opera News today;
Political Experts Explain What Will Happen To Ruto If IEBC Servers Are Opened & Found Raila Won
An observer believes that the opposition’s ongoing demands for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to make servers accessible will not affect the results of the elections from last year.
Since Azimio filed the suit contesting the presidential election results, it has pushed for the opening of IEBC servers, a demand that, among other things, has sparked anti-government demonstrations.
The national tallying centre servers were not opened by voting technology provider Smartmatic International Holding B.V. last year because of security concerns. Since then, IEBC has had sole access to the data on the servers.
Kenyans React As Linturi Explains Why Only Ajab Sells Unga At Sh 170
The cabinet secretary for agriculture Mithika Linturi has broken his Silence over the confusion surrounding the price of maize flour since maize imports landed into the country whereby some brands have lowered their prices unlike others which haven’t.
Speaking to Citizen TV on Tuesday evening, the CS said the government gave permits to over twenty companies to import tax-free maize into the country.
Constitutional Lawyer Charles Kanjama Laughs Off Azimio’s Letter to ICC, Claims Why It Wouldn’t Work
The Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Alliance’s decision to write a letter to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on claims of police brutality against its supporters during the recent mass protests, have attracted mixed reactions on whether their move would yield any fruits.
The opposition camp argued that the police under the supervision of the Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome used excessive force to deal with the protestors, alleging that a number of them were shot dead and others injured despite staging peaceful demos.