Interim chairman Mutava Musyimi who briefed the media after a meeting on Friday said they will keep trying to push for dialogue even after Monday’s Saba Saba rally/FILE
Interim chairman Mutava Musyimi who briefed the media after a meeting on Friday said they will keep trying to push for dialogue even after Monday’s Saba Saba rally.
He said he was concerned about the tension in the country and urged Kenyans to remain calm in the build-up to Monday’s CORD rally.
“I would like to plead for sanity, peace and calmness and to ask both sides to drop hard-line positions for the sake of our people. I think we now need to accept that certain steps will be incremental, there will challenges.”
He says they were able to meet CORD Principals led by former premier Raila Odinga on Thursday but had encountered some challenges in meeting the leadership of the Jubilee Coalition because President Uhuru Kenyatta is attending a regional conference in Rwanda.
Musyimi confirmed that they were seeking an appointment with President Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto in an attempt to bring the rival sides to close ranks.
“We will keep knocking at the door and there will be plenty of work post Monday and I want to ensure the members of the Kenyan public we will be true to this cause. We will keep pursing dialogue and working with other stakeholders across the board to ensure that you see that we say know what we mean and we mean what we say,” he said.
Pushed by fears of tension build-up and possible confrontation between supporters of both sides, 115 MPs allied to both coalitions, came together in an attempt to pacify the rising tensions ahead of Monday’s rally called by Odinga to press for national dialogue on security, alleged corruption, the cost of living, government appointments and the reconstitution of the electoral commission.
The Jubilee coalition has dismissed the call for dialogue outside of structures like Parliament but their CORD counterparts maintain that Parliament was not the right avenue for national dialogue.
READ Jubilee, CORD reject MPs’ national dialogue initiative
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