MP Jared Okello reveals what is holding back bipartisan talks

By Robert Mutasi

Member of Parliament for Nyando Constituency Jared Okello has claimed that the Kenya Kwanza Bi-partisan team was controlled by President William Ruto.

This leads to the holding back of the talks creating disagreements from the Azimio side.

Speaking in an interview with Citizen TV on Thursday, Okello has expressed that they expected the Kenya Kwanza selected panel team to be free from any influence.

"We thought that this is the independent minds that were going to prosecute matters before them independently and objectively," he said.

According to Okello, during the dialogue with the Kenya Kwanza team, they often received phone calls from President Ruto.

He has claimed that the calls and the control of the president to the dialogue created mistrust among Azimio members in the panel.

“We were vindicated when we say we have to move out of this, because we are not going to have talks that are going to be remote controlled by one of the house on the hill,” said Okello.

The MP has condemned the Kenya Kwanza government for not responding to the vital issues raised by the Azimio side.

Okello stated that the dialogue was supposed to be independent so that to address problems facing many Kenyans fairly.

“Bipartisan talks are not moving because Kenya Kwanza side is controlled by Ruto,”he claimed.

One of the main grievances aired by the opposition side was restructuring of the Independent Electronic and Boundaries Commission committee and election issues.

On the issues of IEBC body, he has explained that the commission is not independent body as claimed by the Kenya Kwanza government.

He stated that the IEBC is being controlled by the government making it to align to one side thus affecting impartiality and transparency in the execution of their duties.

Also, Azimio was demanding government to open servers since general elections was long over, but request was turned down.

Previously, Azimio la Umoja One Kenya blamed Kenya Kwanza Alliance for stalemate in the bipartisan talks.