Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo has expressed displeasure with the manner in which President William Ruto invited Opposition's Raila Odinga for talks.
Ruto, through a statement on Twitter on Tuesday night, said; "My friend Raila Odinga, I'm off to Tanzania for a human capital meeting to harmonise the expansion of employment opportunities on our continent. I'll be back tomorrow evening, and as you have always known, I am available to meet one-on-one with you anytime at your convenience."
Otiende now questions this mode of communication which he says insinuates that Ruto had previously invited the Opposition leader for talks.
He also opines that Ruto could have instead contacted Odinga personally rather than announce it in a tweet.
"I find the tweet very interesting. I didn't think Ruto would tweet if he wanted to hold talks with Odinga...I thought he would just call him or send somebody to call him. I am not sure how to treat that tweet, whether it's in good faith or part of the contempt, I don't know," said Otiende during an interview with Spice FM on Wednesday, July 26.
Additionally, the Rarieda Member of Parliament claimed that Ruto and his Deputy President, Rigathi Gachagua could be having different views and ideas about a dialogue with the opposition.
"I get the sense that the deputy president thinks that any sought of dialogue might put them in jeopardy in the future," he said.
The lawmaker also explained why the bi-partisan talks could have failed, alleging that the Kenya Kwanza team was unserious.
"The bi-partisan talks were a way of cooling down temperatures and taking us around in circles. When we pulled out of the talks and now they have seen that the protest waves are stronger than the first, that's when they want us to come back," he added.
Otiende said that their counterparts in the bipartisan committee were never serious about it since it was his team that initiated every step of the talk.
"Then they accepted talks as a way of buying time and cooling things. Our colleagues were very keen on postponing things even when we demanded that we give ourselves 21 days to finish the talks; they demanded 90 days instead," he said.
Otiende cited a lack of seriousness on the other team as they "did not call the talks in good faith and were not committed."
A 14-member team had been constituted to hold joint bipartisan talks that were meant to discuss key issues that the opposition had raised.
Last month, Azimio withdrew from participating in the talks citing non-compliance from Kenya Kwanza.
