Why I Have Not Met Ruto Face-To-Face: Raila

Azimio la Umoja leader, Raila Odinga, on Tuesday, May 9 revealed that he was yet to meet with President William Ruto face-to-face since the August 9, 2022, general elections where the latter was declared the winner.

Speaking during an interview with digital media houses in Karen, Raila revealed that he could not yet meet with the Head of State physically until the 14-member bipartisan committee agrees on the way forward.

The former Prime Minister accused the Kenya Kwanza bi-partisan team of delaying the negotiations and that he would meet Ruto once the committee conclusively reached an agreement over issues raised.

"The problem is not even Mr Ruto, the problem is the Kenya Kwanza team, he's just one of them. There is no need of meeting Mr Ruto if his team has not done what we wanted.

"Therefore we said that we want to have talks first so that the two factions agree, then it will be easier for me to talk with Ruto," Raila said.

The ODM boss argued that it was too soon for them to meet yet their teams had not agreed on the framework for the truce.

He further gave the example of the 2007 post-election skirmishes where he met Former President Mwai Kibaki after their selected representatives had arrived at a power-sharing agreement.

"When there were issues in 2007, we held discussions. Kibaki chose four representatives and myself four, they sat down with Kofi Annan and held talks until they reached an agreement.

"After that, Kibaki and I sat down together with Benjamin Mukapa and Jakaya Kikwete and it was concluded. So the time for me to meet Ruto face-to-face has not come, it will come later," Raila added.

Raila noted that he decided to call off the bi-weekly demonstrations that were planned to resume on Thursday, May 4 after Ruto's team surrendered following the visit of high-level dignitaries to the country among them United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

He also accused the Kenya Kwanza team of stalling the talks, claiming that most of their members are not available in town until May 15.

The bipartisan committee led by Rarieda Member of Parliament Otiende Amollo and his Tharaka counterpart George Murugara resumed talks on May 5, after Kenya Kwanza withdrew Eldas MP Adan Keynan from the team and replaced him with Saku MP Ali Rasso Dido.

Additionally, the team agreed to Raila's push and resolved to have lawyers Paul Mwangi and Muthomi Thiankolu as point secretaries.

On Monday, May 8, Raila urged Ruto's team not to renege on the bipartisan talks, giving both the Kenya Kwanza team and Azimio two days (until Wednesday, May 10) to commence the talks, failure to which, he would cancel them and explore alternatives.

"If their delegation is not ready by then, we will treat that gentleman’s agreement as cancelled, and implore other options available to us,” said Raila.

On May 4, Raila revealed that the coalition had instructed its seven-member team for the bipartisan talks with the Kenya Kwanza government to make it clear that the talks should be concluded in 30 days from the date of commencement.