Kenyan Opposition suspends plans to oust president

Magdalene Mukami

NAIROBI: Kenya’s opposition has suspended the planned People’s Assembly agenda aimed at removing President Uhuru Kenyatta from power after the latter and his main opponent shocked the nation on Friday by shaking hands and deciding to call for a truce.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga had after last year’s disputed elections formed People’s Assemblies in each of Kenya’s 47 counties to force Kenyatta to step down and to enable the holding of new elections.

On Monday, opposition strategist and People’s Assembly Steering committee chairman David Ndii said the suspension was due to talks between the two party leaders.

“It is better to reason together than separately,” he said. “We are therefore suspending the people’s assembly process, we want the process to be honest, truthful and unifying”.

Ahead of U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Kenya last Friday, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga vowed to end the rivalry which led to the deaths of more than 100 people in election violence last year. The U.S. had called on Odinga to recognize Kenyatta’s leadership so as to create room for dialogue. The truce comes months a-fter Kenyans went through t-wo violent election cycles in the last quarter of 2017. (AA)