Ruto, Raila truce perfect bid for national talks
President William Ruto’s decision to give national dialogue a chance after a truce with Azimio la Umoja leader Raila Odinga is probably the wisest move he has made since he assumed office.
The African saying that when elephants fight it is the grass that suffers rings true in the Kenyan situation, which has prevailed since a bitterly contested presidential election last August.
Indeed, the disputed election remains at the core of the raging controversy that has dogged Ruto’s government culminating in the mass protests called by Raila.
Although the Supreme Court affirmed Ruto’s narrow victory after dismissing Raila’s petition on legal technicalities, it did not resolve the political stalemate arising out of the election.
With the Azimio leader still insisting that he won the election, even providing what he claims is proof from a whistleblower within the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, the nation has remained polarised.
President Ruto swiftly moved to consolidate his power by securing a Kenya Kwanza majority in the National Assembly and Senate while adopting a hardline and vengeful position against Azimio that further alienated national cohesion. In launching the protests, Raila, the astute politician that he is, tactfully adopted a theme that constitutionally, politically and economically resonated with all Kenyans across the political divide.
The high cost of living was the central issue during the last election and remains the Achilles heel of Ruto’s administration. Both Kenya Kwanza and Azimio championed their campaigns on lowering the cost of living for the millions of impoverished Kenyans.
Politically, it also provided the perfect platform for Raila to advance his agitation of a “stolen election” as he fully invoked Kenyans constitutional and universal right to demonstrate against injustice and economic deprivation.
With Ruto firmly entrenched in office until 2027, it was highly unlikely that the mass protests would achieve Raila’s demand for IEBC servers to be opened.
However, they succeeded in jolting Ruto’s government to wake up to the reality of the paramount necessity for national bipartisan dialogue on the pressing political and economic issues.
Raila’s magnanimous decision to call the protests in response to Ruto’s agreement to mounting calls for dialogue offers a grand opportunity to chart a path for talks akin to the Bomas convention that gave birth to the 2010 Constitution.
That is why the mooted national dialogue must include genuine and frank discussions on electoral reform as envisaged in the National Accord of 2008, that clearly spelt out key conditions that must be met to sustain unity and development.
Neither the Executive nor the Legislature and Judiciary hold exclusive jurisdiction to power and governance – that ultimately belongs to the people who must be directly involved in the decisions that affect their political, economic and social well-being.
The government is obligated to abide by the Constitution’s cardinal principle that recognises the people, through God as the sole source of power. It is morally and ethically wrong for those in power to invoke God’s name to attack their political opponents.
It is antagonistic to national cohesion for a government that swore to abide by the Constitution to silence people demanding their democratic and constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms, ostensibly to maintain law and order.
Democracy, peace, security, justice and dialogue go hand in hand.
— The writer comments on political and constitutional affairs
