Nairobi — House Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah now says opposition leader Raila Odinga has the ultimate responsibility to defuse political tension by refraining his followers from acts of lawlessness.
Ichung'wah who hosted British High Commissioner Jane Marriot at his office in Parliament noted if Odinga called for peaceful demonstrations, his supporters would heed the call, and there would be no destruction of property.
"If Raila told his supporters to hold peaceful demos if he said that nobody will loot or destroy property, they will not, so he has the power to end the tensions," Ichung'wah said.
He was referring to weekly protests that saw demonstrators loot businesses in parts of Nairobi and Kisumu before Odinga called suspended the demos to consider President William Ruto's offer for talks.
Ichung'wah stated that Kenya Kwanza was ready to engage in talks regarding the reconstitution of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
However, he insisted that the talks must take place within the ambit of parliament, and accused Odinga of shifting goalposts by calling for the expansion of the talks to mirror the Koffi Annan-led talks of 2008.
Ichung'wah claimed that Odinga's change of heart was influenced by hardliners surrounding him, and warned against the appointment of commissioners by political parties or politicians, stating that it would be a recipe for chaos.
"I hope our friends will see the reason to have an election panel that will pick commissioners. Commissioners picked by political parties or politicians will always have their allegiance to whoever picked them," warned Ichung'wah.
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Winning formula
He proposed an election panel that would be responsible for selecting commissioners, with experts playing an advisory role.
"We could craft something where everyone is involved, the media, the church, the civil society, and all interested parties to these matters. The public participation forum in parliament gives that opportunity and then we can have experts involved but in an advisory role," Ichung'wah noted.
Odinga, while welcoming President William Ruto's offer of bipartisan talks, had indicated that he was agreeable to including experts from outside parliament but later he intimated that the talks should be fashioned to mirror the 2008 national dialogue that led to the grand coalition government.
Marriot expressed optimism regarding the potential for the bipartisan talks to defuse the political tensions in Kenya.
She called on both sides to be genuine in their efforts to ensure the country's stability is maintained.
