The bipartisan talks between Kenya Kwanza and Azimio parties aimed at discussing issues affecting the country took a positive turn after Kenya Kwanza conditionally agreed to recall Eldas MP Adan Keynan from the panel.
The move came after the Azimio camp raised concerns about Keynan’s inclusion, stating that his participation in the talks would be a move to sabotage the initiative.
In a statement, Kenya Kwanza co-chair, George Murugara, asked Azimio to reciprocate by recusing David Pkosing. Murugara added that the decision to recall Keynan was to break the impasse on the panel’s composition to enable the talks to move to the next level.
“To demonstrate our commitment to the one process of a peaceful bipartisan engagement, we are ready to recuse the hon. Keynan the process if the issue they consider to be in conflict with the hon. Keynan will be part of TOR of the formal process,” Murugara said.
Kenya Kwanza appealed to Azimio to call off their planned street protests, which were scheduled for Tuesday, and resume negotiations on the next steps in the process.
The government side further emphasized that the talks’ next process would be through peaceful negotiations at the table and not on the streets. In addition, Kenya Kwanza said that because the informal talks were meant to agree on the panel’s terms of reference before initiating structured negotiations, they would agree to Keynan’s request.
Murugara also noted that the next course of action was to invite Otiende Amollo, the co-chair of Azimio, and the leadership of the house, both in minority and majority, to discuss the proposal and break the impasse as soon as possible. The talks had collapsed after the two sides failed to agree on the composition of the panel, leading to both teams accusing each other of trying to derail the process.
However, the move by Kenya Kwanza to recall Keynan has breathed new life into the talks, and the two sides may soon resume negotiations to address the issues affecting the country.
