NANDI HILLS, Kenya—Kenyan president William Ruto has called on the opposition leader Raila Odinga to call off demonstrations that have rocked the country for the past two weeks.
Ruto addressed the nation on April 2, calling on the nation’s opposition leader Raila Odinga to call off the demonstrations, inviting him for a bipartisan engagement in parliament to discuss some of Odinga’s demands.
“In these circumstances, and in view of the recent events that led to the loss of lives and destruction of property, I urge Hon. Raila Odinga to call off any further demonstrations,” Ruto said in the televised national address on April 2.
Odinga publicly responded a few minutes later, accepting the request and calling off what he had said would have been the mother of all demonstrations and would have taken place early April 3. Odinga gave conditions for the talks, saying that in the case that his demands are not met, he will still call for the demonstrations to continue.
Among Odinga’s demands were the reinstatement of suspended lawmakers over their involvement in protests against soaring prices and alleged fraud in last year’s presidential election.
Odinga also wants the government to grant his team access to the data that was sent to the electronic voting system, which ended up tabulating the number of votes garnered by each of the four presidential candidates in last year’s general elections.
Protesters are also calling for the government to do more to address the rising cost of living. The government had scrapped subsidies on fuel, maize, and electricity.
The president agreed to resolve protesters’ demands in parliament.
“We are convinced the issues shall be conclusively handled by Parliament in order to allow us focus on our economic transformation programme,” the president said.
Odinga said that protesting and picketing are the people’s constitutional right and that he will not hesitate to call for people to use them if the demands are not met.
On April 3, the Director of Public Prosecutions dropped charges against six MPs and is in the process of doing the same for over 200 other protestors who were arrested in protests.
“The case has been withdrawn ... for the sake of peace, dialogue and justice between the accused persons and the state,” lawyer Danstan Omari said.
In Kenya’s western county of Nandi, which is President Ruto’s stronghold, people had mixed reactions to this speech, with some saying that Ruto wasn’t supposed to yield to Odinga’s demands, while others saying that he did a good thing, given the country’s needs for peace and stability.
David Lagat, a school teacher in Nandi Hills town, says that Ruto’s move weakens his stance as a president and that he wasn’t supposed to dialogue with Odinga.
“I’m not happy with the president’s speech,” Lagat said, as he had his shoes shined while reading the day’s newspaper before he could dash to school for his day’s duties.
“I wanted the president to hold on to his stance and not bow to the opposition’s pressure because that tells a lot about the grip he has on the country. At the ballot box when I voted for him, I had all faith and confidence in him that he was capable of driving this country in his own wisdom,” he explains.
A few meters away by the roadside, Benard Kiprop, a taxi motorbike rider, was also reading a newspaper as he waited for customers. He said that what Ruto did was not only noble but also very wise for a leader of his caliber.
“There’s no glory in fighting with the opposition as a show of might by the government when we are losing property and lives, and damaging our own economy through the protests. At the end of the day, it’s us who will suffer the consequences,” Kiprop said.
Many political leaders in the country have praised President Ruto for putting the country first in accepting to talk with Odinga.
On April 3, Ruto met with members of his ruling party to organize themselves on how they were going to deal with Odinga’s demands.
Daadab Member of Parliament Farah Maalim claimed that the truce between Ruto and Raila was made possible by U.S. Sen. Chris Coons. Coons had visited the East African country last week when he sat down with the two leaders.
Coons visited Kenya with a congressional delegation of U.S. Senate and House Representatives on March 29 for meetings with Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and former Prime Minister Odinga.
“The biggest game changer here is not the church, the religious sector, or the political class. It is the American senator Chris Coons. He went and talked to everybody and told them to stand down,” Maalim said on national television on Monday.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, on his Twitter account, said that Kenyans should resume their businesses as usual after the weekly protests were called off late April 3 by Odinga.
“All lawbreakers will be swiftly apprehended and prosecuted in accordance with the law. I am happy our economy, which had started showing signs of recovery, is now back on track,” Gachagua said.
Ann Waiguru, who is the chairperson of the Council of Governors, said that the truce between the two leaders will help the country economically and unify Kenyans.
“I wish to congratulate President William Ruto for exercising reason and restraint and guiding our nation back to constitutionalism and public order. I also wish to thank Raila Odinga for halting their demonstrations and accepting the president’s appeal, to rely upon available, legal, and harmonious means to resolve issues they consider contentious,” Waiguru said in on Twitter.
