President William Ruto on Tuesday, April 4 reiterated that he will not have a ‘handshake’ with opposition leader Raila Odinga as he moves to iron out the issues that led to the anti-government protests.
Speaking in Rwanda while opening the 9th session of the Joint Permanent Commission for Cooperation (JPCC), Ruto said the issues outlined by the opposition will be ironed out through available legal and constitutional avenues.
“There will be no handshake. But there will be an engagement in Parliament on the issues that have been raised,” Raila said.
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The Head of State said a handshake between the opposition and government, during Former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s regime, resulted in an undemocratic, unconstitutional and illegal outfit.
“We are a democracy and in a democracy, it is underpinned by a system of checks and balances where we have a government and an opposition,” Ruto added.
Ruto said he is a firm believer in the constitutional system where the opposition checks on the government.
On Monday, Ruto met the Kenya Kwanza parliamentary leadership team to discuss the way forward, regarding the bi-partisan approach.
“We are convinced that the issues shall be conclusively handled by Parliament to allow us to focus on our economic transformation programme,” Ruto said.
On his end, Raila said he has no attention to seeking a handshake with President Ruto.
The Azimio leader said he was only interested in settling the issues addressed by the Azimio outfit.
“We have never talked about the handshake. That is the language that has been coming from the other side. It is them that have been saying these people want Handshake and Nusu Mkate. Take it to Mr Gachagua, I do not want even to shake his hands,” Raila said.
