Mr Raila Odinga has stated that Cord leaders will ask Kenyans to make resolutions on how to force the government to accept demands for a national dialogue when the coalition holds its Saba Saba rally in Nairobi next Monday. Cord will then implement the resolutions reached.
However, Mr Odinga did not disclose what the resolutions would be, saying that doing so would be pre-empting the views of Kenyans.
Kenyans will also be given the chance to recommend how their suggestions would be implemented, Mr Odinga added in an interview.
He hinted that the country should prepare for a repeat of the mass action which eventually forced President Daniel arap Moi to accept a return to multi-party politics in the early 1990s.
Mr Odinga has promised Jubilee a storm should it fail to convene a structured national dialogue, a request that has caused unrest in the Jubilee coalition.
“On Monday, people are coming to demand their rights. It will be a strong demonstration that Kenyans are concerned with the latest developments and the danger it poses for the future,” said Raila.
Mr Odinga said the level of insecurity, corruption, disunity, devolution, electoral bias and amendments to the Constitution were entering the danger zone and could only be dealt with through a national dialogue involving all Kenyans.
He said Cord had given Saba Saba Day as the deadline for the talks, arguing that the Monday rally, which he wants declared a public holiday, would be the culmination of consultative rallies with Kenyans on the crisis.
“Once assembled, representatives of the people will speak and a resolution will be made. I don’t want to pre-empt what the resolution of the gathering of the people of Kenya will be,” he said adding that the rally would bring together representatives of farmers, workers, women, youth, civil society and religious leaders who Cord leaders had consulted through the rallies.
President Kenyatta, his deputy, William Ruto and a section of Jubilee politicians have opposed the rallies arguing that they could result in chaos.
They have also questioned the platform on which the former Prime Minister is demanding dialogue, instead suggesting that issues raised by Cord could be addressed in Parliament.
Arguing for the dialogue, Raila commented, “Is there a case for dialogue? Our answer is yes. We have done a representative sample through rallies and the verdict is Yes. Our deadline for dialogue is Saba Saba Day. If dialogue takes place before, we will still hold the rally to say that is what we wanted. If it doesn’t, Saba Saba Day will be for the people to confirm that we need dialogue.”
Mr Odinga said that SabaSaba Day was historically important, signifying the fight for the second liberation from the dictatorship of President Moi adding that President Kenyatta and Mr Ruto were part of the past system.
That was why, he said, Parliament passed amendments to the Kenya Police Service to give the President powers on who becomes the Inspector General of Police, had enacted the Public Benefits Organisation Act and encroached on media freedom.
“We want to see if we are back to where we were (in 1990). We can see the red light is on the wall and the danger must be stopped,” Raila said.
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