Nyeri — Just a day after the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition leader Raila Odinga poked holes in the parliamentary bi-partisan resolution mechanism proposed by President William Ruto, the Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has challenged Odinga to come clean on his demands.
Speaking in Nyeri County during the burial of the Amani National Congress Nyeri Branch Chairman, Philip Githua, the Prime CS said that the president had displayed true statesmanship inviting Raila for dialogue and that the Azimio leader should reciprocate by desisting from changing goal posts in his earlier demands to the Kenya Kwanza administration.
"The president has extended a hand of magnanimity and he has said that the country should move forward. That tells you that the president is very ready to bring harmony in this country. It will be very hard for us to genuinely move forward if we have people hiding some cards under the table," said Mudavadi.
He has also backed Dr Ruto's parliamentary bi-partisan approach to the ongoing political impasse in the country and termed it as the only way out of the crisis currently pitting the Head of State and the opposition.
Mudavadi argued that by having the matters debated on the floor of the House, there was a guarantee that the resolutions would eventually be anchored in law.
"This initiative must be taken seriously so that we can find solutions and move forward. It is in that spirit that we are encouraging the President to set the pace by allowing the legislators to address these issues so that it is done legally and also so that the resolutions can be anchored in law," he said.
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On Tuesday, Raila rejected an offer by the government to have his grievances addressed by a bi-partisan team in the National Assembly and instead called for a similar approach to the National Accord of 2008 which culminated in the signing of a peace accord between the then President Kibaki and himself.
Under the accord, the two leaders formed a grand coalition government in which Kibaki appointed Raila as the Prime Minister.
Mudavadi's sentiments were echoed by Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga who said that the bipartisan approach was the only way of ensuring that the issues raised by Raila were amicably resolved.
He however asked the President to set strict conditions to ensure Raila does not use the talks to impose himself in government by seeking positions for himself and his cronies.
"It will be a tragedy for us to move the demonstrations from the streets and bring them into government. We fought to secure the government and we now have a President and his cabinet. We are asking the President to set strict conditions that will ensure that those currently working to implement the government's agenda are not displaced like it has happened in the past," stated the Governor.
