President William Ruto has said former president Uhuru Kenyatta and Azimio leader Raila Odinga should have a small discussion on the election outcome in order to end the impasse between the opposition and his government.
Responding to tycoon Mo Ibrahim, who raised concern over the persistent demonstrations in the country, Ruto said the solution to end demos lies in the duo’s hands.
“The chairman of Azimio (Uhuru) told Kenyans that he handed over to the gentleman who won, yet his candidate (Raila), is in the streets complaining that he doesn’t know how the elections went… I think they (Uhuru and Raila) need to have a small conversation on the election outcome,” he said.
He noted that the conversation will be critical as it will help put the demonstrations that have proved disruptive to an end.
“He (Uhuru) should tell him (Raila), gentleman, I handed over to the gentleman who won, let us stop the demonstrations. But that’s not happening,” he said.
Ruto said the Azimio coalition raised four issues, including the high cost of commodities, which is affecting many countries, but as the president, he resorted to dealing with the situation by calling for bipartisan talks in Parliament.
However, even with the talks now in limbo, Raila has vowed to go back to the streets to rally his troops to protest against Ruto’s administration.
Ruto’s next cause of action remains to be seen even as the ODM boss remains adamant about street protests.
Ruto was among the guest speakers during the Ibrahim Governance Weekend held in Nairobi at the weekend when the issue of demos in the country was raised.
The event saw him share the same podium with UN deputy secretary Amina Mohamed.
IGW is an annual event hosted by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation (MIF), a non-grant-making organisation working to strengthen "sound governance and leadership in Africa".
Once a year, the Ibrahim Forum brings together a powerful coalition of African and global leaders to discuss issues critical to the continent’s future.
Leaders who were invited to the high-level conference discussed the theme of Global Africa, Africa’s position in the World, as well as the continent’s voice in the multilateral system.
The three-day conference which started on April 28 and brought together at least 2,000 participants.
