During a press conference, Azimio leader Raila Odinga set a deadline of Wednesday for President William's team to be assembled for the bipartisan talks. Failure to do so would result in his withdrawal, according to the statement.
Raila stated that the president had become hesitant, despite agreeing to call off nationwide protests and initiating talks.
The Azimio leader emphasized that his team entered into the talks with good intentions, believing that the Kenya Kwanza team was equally committed to them.
However, according to Raila, his team discovered that they were only coerced into accepting the talks because of the presence of international visitors in the country.
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Raila explained that they had acted in good faith by calling off the demonstrations in response to Kenya Kwanza's approach, in which they had expressed their readiness for talks and promised to remove Adan Keynan, whom they had earlier nominated as one of their delegates.
"We knew that the real reason they were doing it was because they were expecting visitors who were coming into town and they did not want demonstrations at the time," Raila stated.
Raila urged the Kenya Kwanza coalition to make the necessary arrangements to form their team before the Wednesday deadline. He stated that the coalition had been citing the unavailability of some members as a reason for the delay.
Raila stressed that the talks must commence on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, as agreed upon. Otherwise, he stated that they would explore other alternatives.
"They are saying that members are not available and they don't have a quorum to begin discussions.
"We have given them Monday and Tuesday. The talks must start on Wednesday. If they are not ready we will treat that agreement as cancelled and explore other options available to us," Raila stated.
On May 3, the Kenya Kwanza bipartisan team demonstrated a good gesture by replacing Eldas Member of Parliament Adan Keynan, who had agreed to step down from the lineup.
In light of this, Raila and his team were urged to acknowledge this positive development and resume the negotiations.
