Kenya Kwanza ready to resume bipartisan talks, co-chair George Murugara says

Bipartisan talks committee co-chair George Murugara. [Elvis ogina,Standard]

The Kenya Kwanza Alliance now says it is ready to resume talks following Azimio la Umoja coalition's decision to suspend the talks for seven days.

Speaking at Parliament buildings in Nairobi on Thursday, May 25, the bipartisan talks committee co-chair George Murugara accused Azimio of sabotaging the talks.

Murugara said the Kenya Kwanza team was ready and willing to arrive at a consensus by Monday next week.

"Failure to reach consensus will lead to consultations on the way forward," Murugara said.

Azimio suspended talks on Tuesday for seven days, claiming that Kenya Kwanza team was not negotiating in good faith.

"Today we've had lengthy discussions; we also had them last week on the four issues that we had requested. Our colleagues have refused to concede to any of those interim measures, which has led us to the conclusion that they are not negotiating in good faith," said Azimio's co-chair, Otiende Amollo.

"You will remember that Azimio identified five issues as critical for these talks. And for four of those issues, we identified what was necessary to have meaningful talks in terms of interim measures. Those are the things that need to be done in the meantime," Amollo added.

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna confirmed the talks were suspended after the Kenya Kwanza team failed to concede to some issues.

"We have had to suspend the bipartisan dialogue after we could not persuade our friends from Kenya Kwanza to concede to some common sense interim measures," tweeted Sifuna.

Sifuna was picked by the committee to be part of a six-member team to discuss the reconstitution of the Independent Electora and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

The Senator claimed Kenya Kwanza could not concede on the lowering of the cost of Unga, the preservation of the election servers, or the suspension of IEBC reconstitution, among other issues.