Ruto now says he is open to a dialogue with Azimio on a condition that the talks do not lead to a power sharing agreement.
President William Ruto spoke on Wednesday in Kericho County during the ongoing protests led by Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition. He reaffirmed his earlier stance that there can only be constructive dialogue on how to move the country forward without the infamous ‘handshake’.
The president clarified that he has no problem with having the talks to end the standoff in the country at the moment. The standoff that has caused occasional deaths and destructive demonstrations.
“We don’t have a problem with speaking with anyone so long as tunaongea mambo ya wananchi. Mambo ya kugawana mamlaka wananchi wanaongea siku ya kura. Now, we are planning how to create jobs for the youth and how the country will go forward,” he said
According to him, the government has been willing to have bipartisan talks with the opposition. The latter however, violated the bipartisan talks by walking out and halting their progression. He went ahead to urge the Azimio Coalition to find peaceful ways to address their concerns.
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Protests lead to dialogue with Azimio
In his speech, he cited the provision in the constitution for citizens to picket. He further pointed out that the recent event happenings were a violation of the same law.
The president told off the opposition over their revised calendar for protests. He mentioned that he would not be cowed but rather use government mechanisms to deal with lawbreakers.
“We must protect our country and our democracy by making sure that our politics is devoid of violence, chaos or destruction of private businesses and public property. We must protect this country and the police must be firm on hooligans, criminals, people who want to destroy other people’s properties and life…” Ruto said.
The statement by Ruto comes after continuous protests have been held in Kenya. With most of them ending in destruction of property and deaths of protesters and police officers. It also comes after the UN embassy in Nairobi released a statement offering to mediate talks between Ruto and Raila.
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