Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU) Secretary-General Francis Atwoli has welcomed President William Ruto’s agreement to dialogue with opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Ruto on Sunday urged Odinga to call off the ongoing anti-government protests which were set to enter the fourth day on Monday and suggested talks with the opposition leader towards a bipartisan parliamentary process in the recruitment of commissioners to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
The formation of a new electoral body is one of the issues the opposition had raised with President Ruto’s administration.
Odinga in response called off the bi-weekly protests and said the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition is ready for dialogue that will address the key issues they have raised.
And now Atwoli, who previously ruled out the possibility of him lobbying for a handshake between Odinga and Ruto, says he knew the two leaders would eventually agree to sit and iron out their issues.
“These are experienced leaders who understand Kenyan matters and I cannot act as the advisor of Raila Odinga, I can only be a follower of a political leader. Our president has been through his own political journey,” Atwoli said on Monday.
“Although I did not know of it, I knew there is a point they would meet and talk and I am thankful for what they said yesterday,” he added.
On Sunday, the outspoken trade unionist urged Odinga to accept that he lost the presidential seat to Ruto in the 2022 General Election and stop leading demonstrations calling for an audit of the electoral commission’s servers.
“I was at the forefront of the Azimio campaigns. I have never called for a handshake. They are all adults, above 18 years, how do you start saying you want them to talk? They are not children,” Atwoli said.
He said Azimio’s loss will not deter him from working with the Kenya Kwanza administration to represent the interests of his people, despite him being a fierce Ruto critic during last year’s campaigns.
Odinga has meanwhile said 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 said on Sunday.
