Omanga on bipartisan talks: Azimio is only interested in IEBC servers
Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) in the Ministry of Internal Affairs Millicent Omanga has alleged that the Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya coalition party is only interested in the 2022 Independent Boundaries and Electoral Commission (IEBC) election servers.
In a statement on Wednesday, May 24, 2023, Omanga claimed that the bipartisan talks between Kenya Kwanza and Azimio will fail if the government side does not meet the opposition's demands.
"The main issue Azimio team have with the bipartisan talks only has to do with IEBC servers, as long KK team doesn’t do what they want on that…the talks are bound to fail," Omanga stated.
Azimio suspends bipartisan talks
On Tuesday, Azimio suspended bipartisan talks for seven days, citing differences and a lack of goodwill.
In a statement, Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo said representatives from the government side had refused to cede on any issues proposed by Azimio.
“We will get nowhere even with the substantive issues as our colleagues are not negotiating in good faith. Our colleagues have refused to cede to any of our issues, which has led us to believe that there is no need of going on with the talks,” Mr Amollo said.
According to Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, the Kenya Kwanza retained a hard stance on four issues.
"We have had to suspend the Bipartisan dialogue after we could not persuade our friends from KK (Kenya Kwanza) to concede to some common sense interim measures namely lowering of the cost of Unga, preservation of the election servers, suspension of IEBC reconstitution (and) for them to leave Jubilee alone," Sifuna stated.
Azimio wants the negotiations to revolve around recruitment of the national polls team, opening and audit of the IEBC servers, cost of living and reinstatement of election commissioners who were kicked out after the last General Election.
