It is unfortunate that Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua continues to issue ultimatums with a hardline stance that only serve to totally undermine the political truce that the President and the opposition chief Raila Odinga reached.

Demanding that Raila recognises the legitimacy of Ruto’s administration is totally misplaced because it is one of the germane issues at conflict here.

Remember Raila has demanded that IEBC election results servers be opened to audit the results, which would then confer legitimacy or otherwise to the regime.

So serious is the matter that even DCI at some point indicated they would investigate the alleged results that Azimio published showing its candidate had 8 million votes and Ruto getting 5.9 million.

Perhaps they went slow knowing that the scrutiny could yield uncomfortable results. The effect of Gachagua’s misplaced zeal is to torpedo the decision that his boss has reached.

We as civil society demand that both Azimio and Kenya Kwanza go to these talks with open minds and desist from fresh conditions and counter-conditions.

We do not want the peace that every Kenyan enjoys now disturbed by the political class clashing.

Since Azimio called off the protests, you have seen Kenyans have had a peaceful Easter and the Muslims have observed their Ramadhan without any disturbance as they await to conclude it on April 24.

We must therefore remind politicians that it is not just about them, their power interest and ego.

The very fate of every Kenyan is at stake here and they must expand their horizon. It is time to tone down the rhetoric in the interest of the survival of the country.

On the question of whether the talks must purely be in Parliament, we wish to remind the two sides that Parliament is a creation of the Constitution as a deliberative body. But it does not supersede the power of the people guaranteed in Article 1.

Parliament cannot arrogate to itself the exclusive role of being the people’s constituent assembly. The deliberative role is done by them but also by MCAs, and ordinary Kenyans outside of it.

We therefore demand all-inclusive talks that allow everybody’s voice, including civil society, to be heard.

Veteran activist spoke to the Star