'With all due respect, there's no deal': Kaunda breaks silence on bribery claims

Kennedy Kaunda Chairman Tour Guide Association during an interview on Spice FM. [Screengrab]

The man who publicly contradicted two Cabinet Secretaries during the matatu strike talks says he was not part of the decision to suspend the industrial action.

Kennedy Kaunda, CEO of the East Africa Tour Guides and Drivers Association (EATGDA), went viral on May 18 after interrupting Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi at Transcom House to declare no agreement had been reached. He told Spice FM on Thursday that Tuesday's meeting caught him off guard.

"I stood on business of goodwill that is what I did. I did not stand on the agreement reached; it was because of the goodwill reached, and that is the spirit which moved me to say something on Tuesday," said Kaunda.

The strike was triggered by an EPRA fuel review on May 14 that raised diesel prices by Sh46.29 per litre, the largest single-cycle increase in at least 21 years, pushing the pump price in Nairobi to Sh242.92, a record high.

Transport operators downed tools the following Monday, paralysing movement across major towns and triggering protests that left four people dead and hundreds arrested.

Transport operators had rejected a government offer of a Sh10 per litre reduction in diesel prices, demanding cuts of between Sh30 and Sh35 per litre.

Wandayi, directed to convene the crisis talks by President William Ruto who was abroad at the time, told reporters that progress had been made, framing discussions around bridging the price gap between diesel and kerosene to curb fuel adulteration.

"We are going to bridge the gap between the prices of diesel and petrol. That would mean that the price of kerosene would have to go higher as that of diesel comes lower," noted the CS.

Kaunda immediately disputed that account on camera, delivering the phrase that would define his overnight fame.

"With all due respect, we respect everyone here; we did not come to set anybody up. We are law-abiding citizens. So there's no deal. The strike is still on," he told reporters.

He added that he only learned of Tuesday's meeting, convened by the Deputy President, through a colleague's call, and arrived to find the decision already concluded.

Bribery claims

Kaunda dismissed online claims that he accepted money to back down.

"I have not seen anything, I have not heard about it. Even my son in the university called me this morning telling me people are asking him if I received a brown envelope," he noted.

The strike was suspended for seven days pending further negotiations, with operators warning they would resume action if no meaningful reduction was secured by May 26.