Azimio, Kenya Kwanza agree to form 10-member mediation team

President William Ruto and opposition leader Raila Odinga might soon hold talks following an agreement by their respective coalitions to form a new 10-member mediation team.

The Kenya Kwanza Alliance and Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya on Saturday issued two separate statements that despite sparking hope of a looming ceasefire, revealed the stark differences which neither side is willing to let go just yet.

In their statements, signed by Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wa and his Minority colleague Opiyo Wandayi, the two agreed to form a team that will comprise the pair and four other lawmakers as well as four members from outside parliament.

Both sides will have equal representation in the said committee, the result of a process that Wandayi said was facilitated by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.

“We, the leadership of Azimio la Umoja and Kenya Kwanza, having consulted on the state of our nation, desirous of a democratic and peaceable resolution of issues that beset our nation, expressing our joint condemnation and regrets on the violence that has visited our nation with loss of life, serious injuries and the destruction of property, determined to resolve our differences amicably for the benefit of all our people, we have therefore agreed to establish a committee of ten composed of five members each from Azimio la Umoja and Kenya Kwanza,” reads the joint statement signed only by Ichung’wa.

It is the lingering differences that stood out the most in the statements released to the press. In his statement, Ichung’wa restricts the committee’s deliberations to five issues, chief among them the reconstitution of the electoral commission.

The MP for Kikuyu also highlighted the implementation of the two-thirds gender rule as a key agenda, the entrenchment of the constituency development fund in the constitution, the establishment of the office of the leader of the opposition, and the embedment of the office of the prime cabinet secretary.

“Further, the parties agreed that the Finance Act is sub judice and should be decided in court,” Ichung’wa adds.

The restrictions mirror similar ones proposed by the Kenya Kwanza side in the flopped bipartisan talks, lifted from a memorandum Ruto issued to Parliament last year, a slap in the face on the grievances that Azimio has wanted highlighted.

Wandayi’s statement does not list the scope of discussions, with his coalition adamant that the high cost of living must be addressed and the Finance Act repealed. Azimio also wants an audit of the last election and is also pushing for an end to Kenya Kwanza’s invasion of its constituent parties.

“I don’t know about that (the limitation on the scope of discussions). I only know of what I have said in my statement,” Wandayi yesterday told the Sunday Standard.

For a while now, a truce between Ruto and Raila has been a matter of when and not if, as both politicians send signals that they are ready to thaw their relations.

The pair has blown hot and cold over a possible ceasefire in a game of egos of which both seem to have grown tired. Recent pronouncements and activities from the president’s camp and Raila’s betrayed the high-level behind-the-scenes efforts to find a resolution to their current dispute. 

In the past week, allies of the two have revealed the ongoing negotiations that could see Ruto and Raila share a table, letting out as much information about the parties likely to feature in a fresh round of talks.

Azimio is today set to announce a “way forward” regarding its suspended anti-tax protests, a decision put off at least twice now and coming in the wake of a meeting between Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka and foreign envoys and amid immense pressure for talks.

The former vice president is Azimio’s lead mediator in talks with envoys, a role that reports show will extend to the planned talks between Kenya Kwanza and Azimio, which has threatened to spark division in both camps.

Last week, Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo hinted at talks that he said were majorly hampered, on the Kenya Kwanza side, by resistance from Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, who has not hidden his opposition to the same.

Gachagua and his allies are believed to be cagey about a handshake arrangement between Ruto and Raila that would lead to his sidelining, as Ruto was by Uhuru’s and Raila’s rapprochement. 

Amollo yesterday said it was inevitable that the warring parties will have a sit down if they are interested in averting untold consequences.

“Raila has made this point several times. There is definitely a crisis in Kenya that needs to be resolved and Kenya Kwanza must acknowledge there is a crisis. Every time there are conflicts, they are resolved through talks. In the absence of meaningful talks, crises can degenerate into other things,” the Rarieda MP said. 

Former Laikipia Governor Ndiritu Muriithi, too, held the view that a resolution to the Azimio and Kenya Kwanza dispute over the cost of living was overdue.

“How many countries in the world have experienced demos because of the high cost of living? The difference is the brutality of this regime. Most countries are looking for solutions,” said Muriithi.

“It is the responsibility of the current regime to solve the cost of living because they are in power. You will have to find a solution whether or not you want to talk to your citizens about the cost of living crisis,” the former Laikipia governor added.

On Friday, Azimio expressed the coalition’s acceptance of dialogue, although with conditions.

After a spirited resistance, hardliners had swallowed their words amid the reality that their efforts to keep Ruto and Raila from talking to each other would be futile.