- Monday's meeting was to find a common position on the proposed national dialogue.
- Leaders failed to meet as they continued to read from different scripts over talks with government.
Image: ODM/X
A crucial meeting convened by opposition bigwigs to decide whether or not to board the national dialogue train failed to take place on Monday as planned.
Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition party Principals were scheduled to meet in Nairobi on Monday to take a common position on President William Ruto’s proposed national dialogue.
It is understood that Raila was at his Capitol Hill offices throughout the day attending to private matters as his co-principals remained aloof for the better part of the day.
The session was to be attended by leaders of Azimio constituent parties including Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Wiper boss Kalonzo Musyoka.
Other Azimio partners include Narc Kenya party boss Martha Karua, Jubilee Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni, DAP-K party leader Eugene Wamalwa and Roots Party boss George Wajackoya.
The venue was to be communicated on Monday morning after leaders confirmed their attendance but it emerged that leaders considered as critical of the talks were unreachable.
Despite the leaders announcing on Sunday that they would hold talks over the proposed national dialogue, the meeting flopped.
The failure exposed widening cracks in Azimio over an alleged deal between Ruto and Raila following the duo meeting last week and surprise endorsement of the national dialogue.
A section of the leaders opposed to the talks among them Kalonzo, Karua and Wamalwa were reportedly non-responsive and “non-committal’’ on attending the meeting.
“The meeting flopped because leaders kept sending mixed signals," said a senior leader within Azimio and a trusted ally of Raila.
“The essence of the meeting was to strike a balance on the talks and if agreeable settle on the modalities and framework for harmonisation with the government side."
Another meeting convened by Raila on Sunday night at the home of former Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya in Butere failed to agree on the way forward as other leaders were absent.
The leaders who attended the meeting were those who were at the funeral of Oparanya’s brother that Sunday.
During the funeral, some Azimio leaders took hardline positions against the talks, putting Raila in a tight spot.
Critics of the talks including Kioni have rubbished the dialogue, with calls on President Ruto to instead address the issues raised by Generation Zoomers (Gen Z) and millennials.
Kioni had on Sunday during a burial in Kakamega flatly rejected the national dialogue push, and said on Tuesday that any talks with the government would be a waste of time.
"It's a way of the Executive slowing things down and failing to do what Kenyans want and they keep you in boardrooms over time as they again buy time and continue doing what they have always done," he said.
Speaking in an interview with Spice FM, Kioni insisted that while dialogue is not a bad thing, it is not good for the country at the moment as “it will not work’’.
"Dialoguing is not a bad thing but it is not useful for us today as a country. It is not going to work because who are we dialoguing with?," Kioni posed.
After Raila endorsed the talks last week, Karua rejected the invitation for dialogue saying it can only be meaningful if all players have goodwill.
"Dialogue can only be meaningful if the players have good faith and are guided by the best interests of the people.
"This is a trap period," Karua said.
President Ruto had last week announced that the multi-sectoral forum talks would kick off on Monday for six days.
However, the talks did not begin as planned without any communication on what could have happened.
Parties had until Friday last week to send names of their representatives to the multi-sectoral forum.
Speaking at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre(KICC) after holding a meeting with Raila, the president said the talks will involve 150 participants with the youth nominating 50.
“We have agreed that we have to bring the country together, that is why we will be having a multi-sectoral forum dialogue bringing together 150 participants with 50 of them being youths while 100 of them coming from the religious community, civil society, political parties and professional groups,” said Ruto.
At the time Raila backed the push for dialogue saying it would help the country find the best solution to the issues raised by the young people and also confront historical challenges.
“This forum will help the country move forward by identifying the grievances that the youths of Kenya have and coming up with long-term solutions since they have valid concerns that need to be addressed urgently,” Raila said.
On Sunday, Raila appeared to read from a different script days after Gen Zs told him off, saying he would not represent them at the dialogue table.
Raila led an opposition brigade to Mukuru Kwa Njenga slums saying that dialogue with the government was not possible after bodies were found dumped in Kware.
“There is no dialogue, we want action, Kenya has to move forward, we cannot dialogue with an administration that is involved in such heinous acts like this killings of innocent Kenyans at Mukuru kwa Njenga, we are not going to talk with people whose hands are full of blood,” he said.
Kalonzo said that with the current happenings, it was clear that Kenyans did not have a good government in place and there was no way they were going to dialogue with the administration after the killing of innocent Kenyans.
“I am very certain that Kenyans do not want us to dialogue with this administration that has been oppressive to them in the last 20 months it has been in power with killings of innocent youths who were only agitating for good governance worsening the situation,” he said.