Opposition leader Raila Odinga on Sunday evening called off the anti-government protests which were set to enter the third day on Monday.
The Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition leader made the announcement in a press address at his Capitol Hill office in Nairobi.
It came just hours after President William Ruto’s address in which he called on the opposition leader to do so and give way for a bipartisan parliamentary process in the recruitment of commissioners to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), which is one of the issues the opposition had raised with President Ruto’s administration. Odinga said
the Azimio camp is ready for dialogue that will address the key issues they have raised.
According to the opposition leader, the decision to call off the protests came after wide consultations, including with religious leaders, among others.
“William Ruto has issued what I regard as an important statement, we have met and listened to a lot of people, including religious leaders, they have implored us to give dialogue a chance,” he said.
“We acknowledge the olive branch on dialogue, this is a positive development. We agree to a balanced parliamentary proceed co-chaired by both sides, this committee must be done immediately, including all arrests and prosecution related to demos.”
At the same time, Odinga stated that the Azimio camp is prepared to resume protests if “no meaningful outcome” is reached within a week.
“We emphasize that rights to assemble are anchored in our constitution, we reserve our rights to call for demos if there is no meaningful outcome. We will resume after one week,” he added.
Among the issues the Azimio camp wants addressed are around electoral justice, high cost of living, attacks on media, attack on democracy as well as the alleged ‘buying’ of of MPs.