Coalition Clash: Azimio la Umoja Divided on Truce Talks Attendees
The Azimio la Umoja Coalition is divided over the most qualified candidates to join legislators in the forthcoming bipartisan talks to broker a ceasefire between President William Ruto and opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Robert Alai, MCA for the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) in Kileshwa, criticized Martha Karua’s efforts to include the embattled Jubilee Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni on Azimio’s five-member team.
The ruling Kenya Kwanza coalition and the opposition reached an agreement allowing each faction to field a five-person team consisting of three lawmakers and two members outside of Parliament.
According to Alai, Azimio chose Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka and former CS Eugene Wamalwa as non-Parliament members.
A portion of coalition members, who demanded that a representative from the Mt. Kenya region be included on the committee, were upset by the decision.
“It was proposed that Eugene Wamalwa and Kalonzo Musyoka serve as members from outside Parliament. “Martha Karua objected, arguing that Kioni must be included because Mount Kenya must be represented,” he stated.
The MCA objected to the demand, arguing that ODM demanded a larger portion of the team because it contributed a larger voting cohort to the August 2022 General Election.
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He argued that Raila, who was focused on resolving disputes within the Jubilee Party, was more concerned with appeasing his co-principals than positioning the ODM party for the 2027 General Election.
“My issue is with President Uhuru Kenyatta, Martha Karua, Gideon Moi, and George Wajackoyah misusing Raila. We must defend our position within ODM. ODM must be prepared for the elections in 2027. We must rebrand the party and make it appealing to the youth,” he continued.
“Raila spends more time discussing the requirements of Uhuru and Martha Karua. He is discussing the destruction of political party democracy and Jubilee. We must concentrate on other matters. There are members of our group who have been targeted, fired at, and imprisoned.”
Kioni declined to comment to GossipA2Z regarding his membership on the bipartisan squad, but in an earlier interview on July 31, he confirmed that the team had already been drafted.
However, the former Ndaragwa representative remained silent regarding the identities of the participants.
“We have five members, but we won’t name them.” Nonetheless, the number will continue to rise as we continue to deliberate. It is important to respect Raila because, following his discussions with the government (Ruto), he stated that he could not consent to anything until he had consulted with his people.
“Raila presented our demands, whereas Ruto stated that the expense of living will not be addressed. Raila questioned why the cost of living is not addressed while people are dying on the streets.
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Sunday during a press conference, the leader of the ODM cautioned the Kenya Kwanza regime against interfering with the issues they intend to raise.
“It is our position that no party to these negotiations can and should determine for the other party what to raise and what not to raise,” he stated.
“We will honor Kenya Kwanza’s right to present all of its concerns.
Similarly, we anticipate that Kenya Kwanza will not object to our priorities.”
Raila had long accused the regime led by Deputy President William Ruto of employing underhanded methods to thwart the Jubilee Party of former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Coalition Clash: Azimio la Umoja Divided on Truce Talks Attendees
