As the bipartisan committee gathers to resolve controversial issues, the delicate negotiations attempting to forge a reconciliation between President William Ruto and opposition leader Raila Odinga enter a pivotal week.
The 14-member group postponed its sessions last Friday until this week in order to examine divisive topics that might make or break the negotiations. According to insider sources, the team will meet on Tuesday to iron out the kinks before the important meetings. The united bipartisan team will debate whether or not non-parliamentarians should be included in the negotiations.
“On the subject of formalization, we have moved the substantive discussion until the next week. Otiende Amollo, a Rarieda MP and the committee’s co-chair, said, “We have looked into some of the numerous issues surrounding it.
He added last week, “We are going to study all things in depth, whether it will be a parliamentary process, Executive gazettement under Article 131 of the Constitution.
Azimio has urged that the panel be expanded outside of Parliament and that only resolutions be presented for approval there. However, Ruto’s supporters have insisted that the talks only involve Parliament.
“We discussed the topic of a framework agreement and tabling pertinent matters as a joint committee. We must state that, despite still being a work in progress, we have made great progress on those two areas, Otiende remarked.
The other joint chair, Tharaka MP George Murugara, stated that although the panel had five topics planned for discussion, only one was finally addressed during the meeting on Friday. The other four were postponed until this week. The selection of joint secretaries was approved by the group. As a result, Kenya Kwanza chose lawyer Muthomi Thiankolu and Azimio’s Paul Mwangi to serve as the committee’s joint secretaries.
Moses Wetang’ula, the speaker of the National Assembly, stated on Saturday that the parliament was eager and ready to assist the committee in carrying out its duties to secure long-term peace.
The team will have enough of time and all the parliamentary tools they need to have productive conversations and come to a peaceful conclusion, the Speaker promised. The group will also go over the 14-member committee’s mandate, which was reinstated on Friday after two weeks of suspension of meetings.
The factions had fought over who should be on the panel; Azimio wanted Eldas MP Adan Keynan (Jubilee) removed from the Kenya Kwanza side, while KK wanted Pokot South MP David Pkosing removed. This caused an impasse, which resulted in the suspension of the negotiations and the return of Azimio’s street demonstrations.
Keynan gave in to Azimio’s pressure last Wednesday and removed himself off the panel. As a result, Azimio canceled the demos and the discussions resumed. Keynan was replaced by Saku MP Dido Rasso by KK.