Bipartisan Talks: David Mwaure Issues 4 Demands To Raila, Ruto

Agano party leader David Waihiga Mwaure on Tuesday, April 4 called for the involvement of all candidates who participated in the 2022 presidential elections in the national dialogue process.

In a press statement by the party, Mwaure congratulated both President William Ruto and Azimio la Umoja leader, Raila Odinga, for brokering a truce after weeks and months of hardline stances.

However, he issued four demands that include for the talks to include the 2022 presidential candidates that include himself and Roots Party leader, George Wajackoyah, at the minimum.

"It would an absurdity and daylight exclusion to discuss the results of the 2022 Presidential elections and reconstitution of IEBC without the main players who were there and who were affected," stated Agano Party in part.

Mwaure added that the talks should also include a representation of small unfunded parties, religious organizations, Civil Society, the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and other professional bodies, women and differently enabled persons.

He also demanded that the courts should step in and deal with the matter in line with the law, in case his demands are not met.

"That in case of failure to be all-inclusive, our courts should intervene and uphold the tenets of our constitution," he added.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) cleared four presidential candidates; William Ruto, Raila Odinga, David Mwaure and George Wajakoya in the run-up to the 2022 General Election. 

Mwaure was the only candidate to concede defeat before the presidential results were officially announced while predicting Ruto's eventual victory and had promised to challenge any petition filed at the Supreme Court seeking to invalidate Ruto's election.

The Agano party leader's statement came as Raila expressed that the Parliamentary process as agreed upon by the Kenya Kwanza coalition may not serve the purpose intended by the coalition and instead suggested a conversation at the national level that resembled the 2008 agreement under the National Accord.

He noted that the purely Parliamentary process would not achieve the bi-partisan agreement arrived at by the two parties, even though Azimio already formulated a committee constituting of 14 members who would make the decision and take it to Parliament for approval.

"We want this process to be akin to the process that Kofi Annan led. We want it to be a people-driven process," the ODM party leader added, seemingly advocating for a power-sharing model.