Inside Politics

Raila maintains Azimio will not drop Pkosing from bipartisan talks team

Friday, April 28th, 2023 20:38 | By
Raila maintains Azimio will not drop Pkosing from bipartisan talks team
Azimio leader Raila Odinga at a past rally. PHOTO/(@RailaOdinga)Twitter

Azimio la Umoja - One Kenya coalition leader Raila Odinga insists Pokot South Member of Parliament David Pkosing will remain in the seven-member parliamentary team representing the opposition in dialogue with the government.

The Kenya Kwanza administration had asked the opposition to drop Pkosing from its team as a condition for recalling Eldas MP Adan Keynan from the talks.

Azimio had challenged Keynan's inclusion in the Kenya Kwanza team arguing that he is a member of the Jubilee party that forms part of the opposition coalition.

However, speaking on Friday during a rally in Kibra, Nairobi, the opposition supremo maintained that even though Kenya Kwanza had agreed to drop Keynan from the talks unconditionally, the coalition will not recall Pkosing.

Raila defended the decision saying Pkosing was elected under a party in the Azimio coalition.

"Pkosing was chosen under a party in Azimio, his party moved to Kenya Kwanza but they have not officially asked to do so. Pkosing has a right to remain in Azimio, Pkosing will remain in the Azimio delegation," Raila stated while referring to the Kenya Union Party (KUP) that has since joined the Kenya Kwanza Alliance following Azimio's defeat in the last presidential poll.

Earlier, Kenya Kwanza announced that they had agreed to drop Keynan to unlock the impasse on the composition of the 14-member committee that saw Azimio pull out of the talks on Tuesday.

"To demonstrate our commitment to the one process of a peaceful bipartisan engagement, we are ready to recuse Hon. Keynan from the process if the issue they consider to be in conflict with the Hon. Keynan will be part of TOR of the formal process," Kenya Kwanza team leader George Murugara Murugara said.

Muragara, who doubles up as chair of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee in the National Assembly, urged the Azimio team to suspend planned mass action and return to the table for further consultations.

''I have this afternoon as a co-chair written to my colleague co-chair, hon. Otiende Amollo inviting him and the leadership of the house, both in minority and majority, for a discussion around this proposal to break the impasse at the earliest opportunity available to them,'' the Tharaka MP added.

President William Ruto last month proposed bipartisan talks, through parliament, to address the opposition's concerns on the reconstitution of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and other grievances that saw Azimio call for weekly street protests.

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