Narc Kenya party leader Martha Karua and her DAP counterpart Eugene Wamalwa were a no-show at the Azimio Parliamentary Group meeting where the opposition publicly backed the report for the first time.
Raila alongside Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka on Wednesday threw their weight behind the 296-page report, seen to allow several of opposition grievances including an audit of the 2022 presidential polls.
Karua and Wamalwa have been critical of the document since it was unveiled on Saturday, claiming it fell short of addressing Azimio’s key concerns.
While the report agreed on a raft of measures, including reduction of some fuel levies, Karua and Eugene alongside a section of Azimio troops insist it has not exhaustively addressed the cost of living.
The high cost of living was a key rallying call by Azimio for its countrywide demos that saw tens of its supporters gunned down by the police.
There are now fears within Azimio that Karua and Eugene could be on their way out of the coalition.
Karua and Jubilee secretary general Jeremiah Kioni were the only remaining high profile Raila allies from Mount Kenya.
Both rejected the report.
A source who attended the meeting at Kalonzo Musyoka Command Centre, however, told the Star that Eugene attended a morning Azimio session but skipped the Parliamentary Group meeting.
The Azimio chiefs had met their negotiators in the bipartisan talks in the morning before the PG.
“He (Eugene) was present during the summit meeting, Kalonzo passed their apologies during the PG,” an MP who attended the afternoon meeting told the Star.
Addressing a press conference after the day-long meeting, Raila denied any cracks within the coalition.
“There is no disagreement at all. Wamalwa was here in the meeting of the summit, he had to leave because of a pressing matters,” Raila said, adding that the former Defence CS too had endorsed the report.
According to Raila, Karua was in Somaliland and could not attend both the summit and Azimio PG.
The Narc Kenya leader has for months now not been seen publicly with the Azimio brigade, fuelling speculations of a fallout. Karua and Kioni are spearheading a Mt Kenya unity initiative they founded, called Kamwene.
At the PG, Raila and Kalonzo rallied members to endorse the report, saying the cost of living is a responsibility of the state.
“The document the team has come up with is, ultimately, imperfect and unfinished. But it is a beginning,” Raila said.
Kalonzo is said to have told the lawmakers during the closed door meeting to consider the gains from the report including the issue of IEBC reconstitution.
Azimio argued that the cost of living is a government responsibility and thus Kenya Kwanza should address the same.
They, however, said they will continue piling pressure on the government to lower the cost of living.
“We have agreed to disagree on the most important matter to us. We made what we believed were reasonable proposals on how to address the rising cost of living. But the government side flatly refused terming it their exclusive business and further arguing that they got the mandate of Kenyans to execute their Kenya Kwanza economic agenda,” Raila said.
“Our team realised that the whole issue of cost of living is extremely sensitive in Kenya Kwanza circles because it is a gravy train on which many corrupt interests have converged. It is from this levy that Kenya Kwanza hopes to build a campaign war chest for the next election.”
Despite the criticism, the report is seen as a product of a delicate balancing act in which Kenya Kwanza agreed to undo the appointment of the IEBC commissioners.
The commissioners will now be appointed with an equal number of four members each appointed by both Azimio and Kenya Kwanza, plus others from different sectors, totalling nine.
Both Ruto and Raila should consult and concur before the official appointment of the electoral commission chiefs.
The committee also allowed an audit of the 2022 presidential polls and reduced some taxes on fuel, key demands of the Azimio battalion.
At the press conference, Raila pledged that the fight against the high cost of living is not dead.
“We will be engaging Kenyans further in the coming weeks as we must because the pain of the cost of living is really unbearable,” he said.
Raila was flanked by Kalonzo, National Assembly Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi, Senator Okong’o Omogeni (Nyamira) and MP Amina Mnyazi (Malindi) – all members of the bipartisan team.
The former Prime Minister said the coalition will not give up on championing lowering of the cost of living but will seek other ways to compel the government to listen to the cries of the people.
“We made it clear that we will support the document ensuing from the talks but we will treat the hardline on the cost of living as the beginning of another phase of this struggle,” he said
“The other ways will include but will not be limited to consultations with the people. At all times, we will retain the right to call on the people to take steps that we deem necessary to force the government to lower the cost of living.”
In accepting the document, Azimio however maintained that sections of the report must be taken to Kenyans in a referendum for concurrence.
He cited proposals to create leader of opposition and formalisation of Prime Cabinet Secretary position as requiring a plebiscite.
“Besides, it is a constitutional requirement that such significant restructuring of government must go through a referendum to avoid the mischief that may be played by some people going to court,” Raila stated.
The opposition leader also called on employers to ignore the government’s directive to continue deducting the housing levy.
According to Raila, the court declared the levy unconstitutional and a stay order does not make it legal.
He cautioned that any employer who will make the deductions will be engaging in an illegality.
“It is not unlike Kenya Kwanza to ignore court orders, the matter remains unconstitutional. I will ask employers to stop the deductions,” Raila said.
In the report, both camps made proposals on key issues that were part of the talks, which they disclosed failed to strike a deal on Azimio's major concerns on taxes, the Finance Act, and the housing levy.
"The committee was unable to reach a consensus on several other proposals on the matter of cost of living, including the reduction of VAT on fuel from 16 per cent to eight per cent and scrapping of the housing levy, the twin issues in the Finance Act, 2023," the report stated.
The meeting at SKM Centre was also attended by the coalition senators and members of the National Assembly.
