Azimio la Umoja Meeting in Disarray as Youths Disrupt Press Conference
The Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Parliamentary Group (PG) meeting on Wednesday, July 17, ended in chaos when youths interrupted a press conference as Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka began reading out resolutions.
Raila Odinga, leader of Azimio, had left for an “important meeting,” leaving Musyoka to deliver the statement.
Musyoka conveyed Odinga’s apology, explaining his absence due to an “important meeting.”
Interestingly, senior ODM leaders like deputies Hassan Joho and Wycliffe Oparanya did not join Musyoka at the press conference.
As soon as Musyoka started reading the PG resolutions, youths at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Foundation, the meeting’s venue, disrupted and ejected him and other leaders.
The statement emphasized that the coalition would not join the proposed broad-based government or any other government with the Kenya Kwanza Coalition.
President William Ruto has promoted a “broad-based government,” similar to a national unity government, which some ODM members seem to support.
Earlier, the ODM party held a joint National Executive Committee and PG meeting at the same venue, advocating for national dialogue to resolve the political crisis.
ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna stated that the meeting supported the Central Committee’s call for a National Convention/Conversation to unite all Kenyans.
The meeting stressed the importance of the convention being inclusive, people-focused, and constitutional.
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The meeting also supported the Central Management Committee’s position that certain conditions must be met before the National Convention to ensure a conducive environment.
These conditions include compensating victims of police brutality, arresting rogue officers, granting national amnesty to those arrested/abducted, and interdicting Nairobi Area Police boss Adamson Bungei.
In the Azimio statement, Musyoka began reading, the meeting highlighted the need for a people-driven National Constitutional Convention to address the national crisis, pending consensus and agreement from other stakeholders.
The coalition demanded the arrest of rogue officers responsible for violence against peaceful demonstrators.
They also called for the immediate interdiction of senior police officers involved in the atrocities, the unconditional release of abducted Kenyans, and an end to abductions.
The coalition insisted that the government compensate families of those killed by rogue officers during last year’s and ongoing protests.
The statement also demanded that the government cover all hospital bills for victims of police shootings.
Azimio la Umoja Meeting in Disarray as Youths Disrupt Press Conference
