All eyes are on Azimio leader Raila Odinga as the deadline for the 14-day ultimatum to President William Ruto to lower prices of basic commodities and taxes.
The country waits with bated breath to see whether mass action will begin on Thursday, March 9 as promised.
Speaking on Tuesday, Raila reminded President Ruto that he has until Wednesday midnight to respond to their grievances, which were issued at Jeevanjee gardens in Nairobi.
Raila said that failure to honour the demands, Azimio will proceed with mass action on Thursday.
“We want you to wait for the time, the deadline is tomorrow (Wednesday) at midnight. So you will hear from us on Thursday,” he said.
Raila has been leading a series of anti-government rallies across the country, demanding that Ruto meets their demands.
On February 22, Raila gave the Ruto administration a 14-day ultimatum to address his concerns about the high cost of living, electoral injustice, and skewed sharing of state jobs.
He spelled out three demands that the President should meet before they can have any talks.
He demanded that Ruto opens the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) servers, stop the ongoing recruitment of the IEBC commissioners, and ensure that the cost of living comes down because Kenyans are suffering.
Despite the rallies and ultimatum, Ruto remains unshaken and has vowed to continue serving Kenyans.
Speaking during the launch of Fertiplant Nakuru, Ruto dismissed Raila’s demand to open the servers used in the August 9 election, saying it was not a constitutional requirement.
“I want to tell Raila Odinga, please stop bothering me about servers. Where in the constitution does it state that servers must be opened? If the constitution talks about me opening the servers, I will obey the law. The only topic I will discuss is about opening the economy,” Ruto said.
Ruto also criticised his opponent’s demands, adding that they are aimed at blackmailing his government to derail his development agenda.
He adds that he will not be intimidated by the ultimatums from the opposition.
“Let them engage in mass action until they are tired,” he said.
Ruto further accused his political opponent and former leader Uhuru Kenyatta of weakening the economy after a political handshake in 2018.
“You will not threaten anybody in this government. You left us with a huge debt,” he added.
Raila has refused to concede defeat since the Supreme Court ruling on the August 9 election that saw Ruto named the winner.
