The Kenya Kwanza-Azimio dialogue has entered the final stretch in what will be a make or break week for a deal.
With just days to the November 26 deadline, indications are that President William Ruto and opposition leader Raila Odinga's teams are still far from agreeing on contentious issues.
Raila has vowed he will not sign the bipartisan agreement if the issue of the high cost of living is not addressed.
Apart from the high cost living, an audit of the 2022 presidential election has also been contentious, an issue that could similarly prevent the National Dialogue Committee from achieving its objectives.
Racing against time, the team plans to meet on Wednesday having hit a snag last Thursday during a report-writing retreat at Stoni Athi in Machakos county.
What was to be the last stage of report writing for the committee was cut short as the two sides sharply disagreed on the issue of cost of living.
Azimio had insisted that VAT and other taxes on fuel be cut to at least eight per cent.
The proposal was however resisted by Kenya Kwanza led by National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah, who is the leader of the Kenya Kwanza side in the committee.
Another point of departure was the housing levy, which the Raila team wanted scrapped, reduced or made voluntary to reduce the burden on Kenyans.
Speaking at a church event in Bomet county on Sunday, President Ruto expressed shock at some of the proposals brought forward by the Azimio side on lowering the cost of living.
“I am shocked that some people are saying we stop the housing agenda. Someone wants us to render 150,000 youths already engaged jobless,” he stated.
Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, who was at a church service in Mwingi, however maintained that Azimio side will not sign the document if the cost of living will not be addressed adequately in the report.
“We are also talking about an audit of 2022 elections. Let us get one audit firm and they get another to do the job before we can talk about 2027 elections,” Kalonzo said.
He added that Jubilee Party should be allowed to operate without interference. “If you interfere with Jubilee, you interfere with Wiper and even ODM because we are in one coalition,” he said.
Kalonzo, who is the leader of the Azimio side in the committee, said they will be meeting National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u to be told how the government intends to lower the cost of living.
“We were told that the G to G would lower the cost of fuel. They however never told us about the people behind these companies importing oil. We must speak the truth, there is corruption,” he said.
The Wiper leader urged agencies mandated to fight corruption and international partners to look into the matter.
“We want people to put food on the table and take their children to school. We need clarity; a scam is a scam, if it walks like a duck it must be a duck,” Kalonzo added.
In Bomet, Leader of Majority in the Senate Aaron Cheruiyot - a member of the dialogue team - acknowledged that the committee is far from reaching a consensus.
“Let me tell you that we are almost falling part because there is some selfishness. Someone is coming to tell us to remove housing levy, which is supposed to address unemployment,” he added.
Cheruiyot said the talks will collapse if the Azimio side insists that the housing levy be removed.
“If they push for its removal, it will be the end of the talks. Let them go back to the streets. We cannot take advice from people who brought us into the problems we are having,” he said.
Speaking in Mwingi, Kitui Senator Enock Wambua urged the Azimio team in the dialogue committee not to append their signatures to the report if the cost of living is not addressed.
“Kenyans did not send you to the dialogue to talk about positions. Kenyans are not interested with the creation of Official Opposition seat or the entrenchment in law of the Prime Cabinet Secretary position,” Wambua said.
The Kitui senator said he is ready to lead Kenyans in another wave of street demonstrations if grievances of citizens are not addressed by the committee.
Machakos Governor Wavinya Ndeti said the high cost of fuel had made life for majority of Kenyans unbearable.
“If some of us in leadership feel it, what about the ordinary person?” she posed.
She added that the Kenya Kwanza leaders duped Kenyans that the government would be sensitive to the needs of hustlers.
“The government promised hustlers things would be okay. We cannot proceed like this. We are lucky that God has been merciful and provided rain,” she stated.
Other speakers among them EALA MP Kennedy Musyoka, Makali Mulu (Kitui Central), Paul Nzengu (Mwingi North), Edith Nyenze (Kitui West), Dickson Maungu (Luanda), Steven Mutinda (Matungulu) and Godfrey Osotsi (Vihiga Senator) said the cost of living must be addressed.
And speaking after attending a Sunday service at Metro Church International in Nakuru, former Mungiki leader Maina Njenga said there will be no need to sign the bipartisan talks agreement if the issue of the high cost of living is not addressed.
He said millions of Kenyans, especially those living in slums, were suffering immensely due to the high cost of living.
Maina urged the government to be considerate of its people by lowering the cost of living.
"People are already hard-pressed, where is a jobless youth who has just cleared high school expected to get money to acquire an identity card?" he posed.
A July 29 agreement between Ruto and Raila ended months of street protests against tax hikes and the cost of living, many of which were met with heavy-handed policing.
Last Thursday, the parties failed to hit a compromise and called off the report writing exercise but agreed to reconvene next Wednesday.
“Since the mandate of the committee expires on Friday next week, if there is no agreement on Wednesday, the talks may be considered to have collapsed irredeemably,” a source said.
The Ruto camp argued that their hands are tied given the 16 per cent VAT on fuel was part of the deal with IMF, thus not open to discussion.
Appearing before the talks committee on November 6, National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung'u warned the committee against tampering with any of the tax measures in the current Finance Act 2023.
“Considering that all the above measures have been factored in the revenue projections that informed the FY 2023-24 budget, the removal will result in revenue shortfall hence negatively affect the implementation of the budget,” he stated.
“The only thing Kenya Kwanza conceded was reduction of Road Maintenance Levy from Sh18 to Sh13. They also agreed to reduction of anti-adulteration levy from Sh18 to Sh15,” the source said
Ruto was two weeks ago confronted by Kenya Kwanza MPs over the high cost of living in the country, which they said had made them unpopular among their constituents.
The Head of State however said his hands are tied over the rise in fuel prices.