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NASA ready to reconsider swearing-in if Jubilee softens position on dialogue

National Assembly Minority Leader John Mbadi and his Senate counterpart Moses Wetangula said on Monday that the coalition is ready to shelve its planned swearing-in ceremony if the issues they raised are addressed/FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 8 – Minority Leaders in Parliament have said the National Super Alliance (NASA) plan to swear-in Raila Odinga at the end this month can be stopped if President Uhuru Kenyatta softens his stand on engaging in constructive dialogue.

National Assembly Minority Leader John Mbadi and his Senate counterpart Moses Wetangula said on Monday that the coalition is ready to shelve its planned swearing-in ceremony if the issues they raised are addressed.

“This country needs to have a way forward and the arrogance in Jubilee is not helping matters. Jubilee needs to realise that they cannot run this country on their own; this country needs all of us… we have to run it either together or we perish together. This is a do or dies for us as a country,” said Mbadi.

Wetangula who is a NASA co-principal and Bungoma Senator said the coalition will not relent in its push for electoral justice until the issues it raises are fully addressed failure to which the coalition will go on with its planned swearing-in ceremony.

“The President has said he is willing to talk with us on his economic plans for the country and as a coalition we have said that the economic agenda of the country is the agenda of the government of the day. It is idle for us to sit down with Kenyatta to talk about the Standard Gauge Railway yet there are so many questions that will arise from that conversation with no answers. Let us first fix the politics of the country then we will address the other issues,” said Wetangula.

The two, who spoke after meeting US Ambassador Robert Godec, said it is high time that the Head of State agrees to address some of the issues that the Opposition raises for the sake of the country.

But, President Kenyatta who has been cold to the Opposition’s calls for dialogue has maintained that he will not engage NASA in dialogue that is premised on electoral reforms instead urging NASA leaders help him spearhead his four pillar development plan.

The NASA leadership has maintained that it will not recognize the legitimacy of Kenyatta’s presidency, a fact that has drawn the attention of foreign envoys who still continue to push for dialogue.

Such envoy is US Ambassador Godec who has been pushing for dialogue between the two main political factions in the country saying that the country needs to move forward after the prolonged electioneering period that almost threatened to destabilize the country.

On Monday, Godec who paid the House Minority Leaders a courtesy call emphasised that there was need for structured talks between Kenyatta and Odinga so that the country can focus on other developmental issues.

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“There needs to be a national conversation that needs to include healing and uniting Kenyans and that can only be achieved through the leaders engaging in dialogue,” said Godec.

Last week, Godec also met with Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka and Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen where talks of dialogue and reconciliation dominated during the conversation.

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