Raila demands implementation of NADCO report

ODM leader Raila Odinga wants the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO) report  implemented if his party is to continue cooperating with the Kenya Kwanza government.

Speaking during a public consultation forum in Kilifi yesterday, Raila underscored the importance of a written political agreement with President William Ruto’s administration. However, he made it clear that ODM’s support was conditional on the full adoption of NADCO’s recommendations.

He also urged the government to end enforced disappearances, address challenges facing the Social Health Authority (SHA), and resolve county funding delays.

“I am consulting all my party members to gather their views and concerns as we seek solutions to pressing national issues, including the high cost of living, the challenges in SHA, abductions, and the struggle for proper devolution. These are the key matters we want the government to address,” he said.

The NADCO report, presented to President Ruto, proposes significant governance reforms, including the creation of the Leader of Opposition position and the ratification of the Office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary.

It also seeks to anchor affirmative action funds in law and establish a framework for implementing the two-thirds gender principle.

However, Azimio and Kenya Kwanza could not agree on some issues, the most critical being the cost of living, where the opposition vowed to press Ruto on the subject.

The NADCO team was headed by Leader of Majority Kimani Ichung’wah and Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka.

During its release, Raila said the report would ensure electoral reforms and a chance for lasting peace "that could put this country in a path of prolonged stability in years ahead."

Kalonzo reflected on the engagements the committee had in coming up with the document.

"We had moments of serious engagements and disagreements, and we never hid anything," he said. "The work that lies ahead is equally difficult."

Ichung'wah said that NADCO had addressed 90 per cent of the issues presented to it and urged Kenyans to rally behind the team.

"There is no task that is beyond a people in a country when they speak to each other and dialogue," he had said.

The report was a product of protests following the 2022 General Election as the opposition coalition under Raila confronted State agents protesting what they termed as rigged elections.

It took the intervention of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to bring Raila and Ruto to the negotiation table as parts of the country became ungovernable.

A pact between the two leaders was reached, leading to the cessation of protests in March last year and appointment of a bipartisan team, which birthed the report that was handed over  by Ichung'wah and Kalonzo.

Yesterday, Kilifi leaders gave Raila the nod to press on with the demands for accountability and compensation of families of people who died during the 2023 Azimio protests and the 2024 anti-finance bill demonstrations.

He was received by the Kilifi County ODM chairman and Kilifi County Assembly speaker Teddy Mwambire, Governor Gideon Mung’aro and his deputy Flora Chibule, Senator Stewart Madzayo, Kaloleni MP Paul Katana, and Kilifi women representative Gertrude Mbeyu, among others.

Raila embarked on countrywide consultations with party supporters after a meeting with President Ruto at State House Mombasa about a week ago.

The ODM leader had jetted back to Kenya after losing the Africa Union Commission chairmanship election in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Yesterday, Raila demanded that the government compensate families of those who died in the demonstrations.

Mung’aro insisted that counties were still struggling since most devolved functions had been retained at the national level, such as the roads funds.

“We have had a meeting with our party leader, and we have resolved to continue the push for the implementation of the NADCO report because Kenya is for everyone, and we have given Baba the mandate to lead the process,” he said.

Madzayo called on the government to give families of those who died during the two protests under government officers and those who lost their livelihoods after getting life-threatening injuries to be compensated so that they can also feel that they were fighting for justice.

“Those who were rendered hopeless and lost their livelihoods must be compensated fully before we can move forward, and they must stop abductions,” he said.