Silverio Omari
Thirdway Alliance party leader Ekuru Aukot has criticized President William Ruto’s call for dialogue with Kenyans following recent anti-government protests.
On Tuesday, Ruto and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga announced a six-day multi-sectoral dialogue forum, which will include representatives from political parties, religious groups, civil society, employers, and youth to discuss pressing issues starting Monday, July 15.
In a Thursday interview with Citizen TV, Aukot dismissed the talks as a diversion led by politicians from the real issues that Kenyans want addressed. He criticized Ruto’s call for dialogue, highlighting that the government has yet to acknowledge and apologize for the violence and killings during the protests against the Finance Bill, 2024.
“You cannot dialogue with a person who has not even apologized to you… Talk about what? What Kenyans are asking for is results, change, and accountability,” said Aukot. “Let us not divert; this is just another handshake loading,” he added, referencing Odinga’s political truce with retired president Uhuru Kenyatta on March 9, 2018, after the disputed 2017 presidential election results.
Aukot accused Ruto’s government of deceiving Kenyans. “You cannot deny that there were disappearances and deaths and that people were shot. The statistics are there, and this is the age of technology; you cannot fool people,” he said.
More than 39 people were killed in the demonstrations between June 18 and July 1, according to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, which also reported 361 injuries, 32 cases of “enforced or involuntary disappearances,” and 627 arrests of protesters.
However, President Ruto’s government has denied police involvement in abductions and defended the conduct of plainclothes police officers linked to the abductions and killings. Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki stated that the government would take action against “claims of abductions and enforced disappearances allegedly perpetrated by security personnel” during the protests.
Ruto ultimately declined to assent to the Finance Bill after mounting public pressure, instead announcing austerity measures to cover the budgetary provisions that the Bill sought to raise through increased taxation.
Aukot argued that the President has put the country “into a dysfunctional state,” citing Ruto’s signing of the Appropriations Bill, 2024 into law after the Finance Bill was withdrawn. “How do you sign an Appropriations Bill, which is an expenditure law, without a Finance Bill, which is how you collect the money? By deleting an entire Bill, you are telling Kenyans that we do not have a House that can legislate for you, that can pass a law that is of common good to people,” he said. “The lies from back to 2022 are now catching up on him and his government. You overpromised people knowing very well that you were lying to them, and that is why we are dealing with a dysfunctional government.”
Ruto and Raila’s dialogue push has faced backlash from Kenyan youth, who demand accountability from the government. Following Tuesday’s announcement, some youth on social media questioned Odinga’s capacity to represent them in the talks.
“Raila, as you go ahead and dialogue, kindly don’t involve us. Discuss your private matters. You don’t speak on our behalf,” one user wrote on X.
Similarly, Narc Kenya party leader Martha Karua, Odinga’s presidential running mate in the 2022 General Election, called the move “a trap” likely to benefit “a handful of elites.” “Let’s be careful as the political class lest we hijack the genuine clamor for accountability and reforms by the Gen-Z. This is a trap period,” Karua wrote on X.
The Wiper Party, a member of Odinga’s Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition, has also called on the government to address the issues raised by Kenyans during the recent protests rather than pushing for a meeting with their so-called representatives.
