The opposition coalition Nasa has declared it will only hold
talks with President Uhuru Kenyatta on issues at the root of political
and electoral tensions in the country.
National
Coordination Committee chairman Johnson Muthama and ODM national
chairman John Mbadi described the President’s conditional invitation for
talks during Tuesday’s 54th Jamhuri Day celebrations at Kasarani as
“simple semantics made out of insincerity”.
They
spoke as Nasa leaders Raila Odinga, Musalia Mudavadi and Moses
Wetang’ula met to discuss their take on the conditional window of talks.
Sources
said the leaders were dissatisfied with the President’s position,
especially after they postponed their planned swearing in of Mr Odinga
on Jamhuri Day to give dialogue a chance.
Speaking to Nation
Wednesday, Mr Muthama, Mr Mbadi and the party’s political affairs
director Opiyo Wandayi said talks must centre on the political issues
that affect millions of Kenyans.
“Dialogue must be on the outstanding political issues,” said Mr Muthama.
“There cannot be development if a government lacks popular support of the people.”
ELECTORAL REFORMS
Nasa
has argued that it will only engage the Jubilee government in talks on
electoral reforms, a change in the system of governance, devolution, as
well as on reforming the Judiciary and the police.
But
President Kenyatta has always maintained that, while his administration
is open to any suggestions on development from both sides of the
political divide, it will not engage in political dialogue with the
opposition.
Speaking at City Hall on
Monday during the launch of Nairobi County’s new data centre, the
President asked the opposition to forward to him any ideas on
transforming the lives of Kenyans, saying “we cannot dialogue to
continue politicking”.
And on
Tuesday, speaking at Kasarani Stadium, the head of State said he was
ready for dialogue with the opposition, but only around the pursuit of
economic liberation.
HARMONY
He pledged to bring harmony between communities, deepen unity, and foster national cohesion in his second term.
“As
I have stated before, as President of all Kenyans, I am willing and
commit to engage all Kenyans, and all Kenyan leaders, including my
worthy competitors, irrespective or their religious or ethnic
affiliation, in fashioning this paradigm shift,” President Kenyatta
said.
Earlier, on Saturday, Mr
Kenyatta, in remarks aimed at the opposition, overruled talks on
electoral injustices as proposed by Nasa, and instead advised the
Odinga-led coalition to wait and dialogue with his deputy William Ruto
in 2022.
ANC secretary-general
Barrack Muluka Wednesday said the remakes by Mr Kenyatta “should be
taken with a pinch of salt”, adding: “It is naïve for a President who is
a politician to say that people will not talk about politics.”
Mr
Mbadi claimed that the Jubilee administration had presided over ills in
the country which must be the foundation of the dialogue called by the
President.
“It is evidently clear that people are angry because of the mismanagement of the political affairs of the country,” he said.
Nasa,
which had vowed to swear in both Mr Odinga and Wiper’s Kalonzo Musyoka
as the people’s president and deputy president, respectively, during the
Jamhuri fete, postponed the event in the last minute.
Jubilee
leaders have in the past accused Nasa of plotting to share power
through a coalition, but the opposition has termed the assertions as
false.
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