President William Ruto has made remarks concerning plans by Raila Odinga’s camp to hold public rallies to engage Kenyans on the ongoing probe of four Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioners by Parliament.
The opposition leader on Sunday, November 27 announced a plan to traverse the country to engage Kenyans on the fate of the four commissioners, starting Wednesday at the Kamukunji Grounds in Nairobi.
Nonetheless, in a quick rejoinder on Monday, November 28, President Ruto welcomed criticism from the opposition but urged Azimio outfit to ensure they maintain peace during their activities.
“I want to tell our brothers in the opposition to work with us and criticize whatever they want to criticize, but let’s keep the country peaceful. We want to do our job and we want the opposition to do their job, but they should do it peacefully,” said president Ruto.
However, the head of state criticized the opposition for their method of airing grievances against the government.
“I do not think organizing demonstrations and getting Kenyans to do the things they want to do is part of holding any government to account.” Added Ruto.
Moreover, he termed Mr. Odinga’s plan as “street fights” which he said work for nobody, not even for them, further urging the Azimio boss to be careful about pitting Kenyans against each other.
“I want to encourage them not to hold Kenyans against one another. Street demonstrations and street fights should not be part of the script of any responsible opposition, unless they want to be a dictatorial opposition,” said Ruto.
Nevertheless, the National Assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee commenced hearing the petitions filed against the four commissioners last week Thursday and are scheduled to conclude on Tuesday, November 29.
The four IEBC Commissioner including Juliana Cherera, Irene Masit, Francis Wanderi and Justus Nyang’aya are being grilled after petitions were filed challenging their suitability to hold office, after distancing themselves from the August 9 Election presidential results