Raila calls for constitutional review to address prevailing national crisis

Azimio la Umoja One Kenya leader Raila Odinga has called for a constitutional review to promote a progressive country after a month of deadly youth-led protests.

According to the former Prime Minister, Kenyans must now, more than ever, unite and engage in a national dialogue to address issues ailing the country.

“Kenyans met at Bomas of Kenya and came up with a very progressive constitution. That constitution was bastardized to a certain extent during the second Naivasha process. We must go back to the Bomas draft constitution, put it back on the table, and see what needs to be cleaned up so that we can have a progressive constitution,” said Raila.

“Kenya is at a critical juncture, we either move forward or we perish. We need to have a conversation that takes cognizance of the demographic profile of our nation,” he added.

However, Raila maintains that the ODM party has not entered into any coalition agreement with President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza coalition.

He insisted that ODM is still in the opposition and part of the Azimio la Umoja coalition.

“If you want to take some of our experts to join your government, we release them to work in accordance with the ethics of our ODM and Azimio, but our position has not changed. We want to see a new Kenya, and that is why we agree with the demands of Gen Z,” he said.

Raila added that the national dialogue must be preceded by the fulfillment of several conditions, including compensation for the families of those killed during protests, release of those arrested and the termination of the cases against them, and prosecution of police officers accused of killing protesters.

President William Ruto nominated four ODM members to the Cabinet: MP and ODM chair John Mbadi (Treasury), Hassan Joho (Mining), Wycliffe Oparanya (Cooperatives), and Opiyo Wandayi (Energy).