Ndindi Nyoro dares Azimio to quit bipartisan talks
Kiharu Member of Parliament Ndindi Nyoro has dared the Azimio la Umoja - One Kenya Coalition Party to pull out of the bipartisan talks instead of issuing "empty threats" to a duly elected government.
Speaking during the burial of Peter Kiriba in Kieni, Nyeri County, on Monday, October 23, the chairman of the parliamentary budget committee opined that the talks should be brought to a halt as the opposition was using the dialogue to discuss the outcome of last year's election.
"Yesterday we saw the leader of opposition in Kitengela purporting to give threats that they are going to walk out of the ongoing talks. We want to tell them that it is even a favour that we are engaging in those talks, the people of Kenya have no time for those talks, they want all the leaders to do their job," Nyoro said.
According to the MP, the Kenya Kwanza team is not bound to discuss the audit of last year's poll since the Kenya Kwanza government was validly elected in the August 2022 election.
He asked the opposition to shelve calls for audit of the election to give President William Ruto's administration ample time to deliver on its campaign promises.
The lawmaker's comments come hot on the heels of remarks by Azimio leaders to pull out of the talks should their Kenya Kwanza counterparts fail to honour their irreducible minimum: lowering the cost of living.
Already, the dialogue team co-chaired by the National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah and former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka have agreed on reconstituting the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), creating of office of the leader of opposition and entrenching the position of the prime cabinet secretary into the constitution.
However, the team is yet to agree on the issue of audit of the polls which was brought to the table by opposition.
Meanwhile, Nyoro has defended Kenya Kwanza's policies on reducing the cost of living amid criticism from various quarters.
The legislator affirmed that efforts to turn around the country's economy would soon bear fruits.
"When we took over we found a dilapidated economy with huge debts so what we have managed to do so far at the moment is stabilisation of the economy through subsiding production. Eventually, we will be on top and the cost of living will go down," he said.
Nyoro affirmed that the government's move to subsidise prices of farm inputs including fertilizer will increase maize production in the country. He noted that maize production is expected to hit 50 million bags this year.
