We can only talk after Thursday election, Uhuru tells Raila
President Uhuru Kenyatta has said he will only have dialogue with Opposition leader Raila Odinga after the Thursday election.
“We will talk later after voting. We will never talk on how to deny the people their democratic right to vote for their leader. Let the people decide,” Uhuru said during interviews with several Kikuyu radio stations on Monday.
He rubbished Raila’s claims that the military has been deployed in Opposition strongholds, terming them “mere propaganda” meant to create fear on election day.
The President said his administration as been supporting the military to protect Kenya’s borders and in partnering with neighbouring nations to stabilise the region.
Uhuru said Raila made the same allegations prior to the August 8 general elections but failed to substantiate them.
“This is not the first time Raila is alleging that the government is planning to deploy the military to their strongholds. He did the same before the last polls,” Uhuru said on Monday.
Raila, who is urging his supporters to boycott the forthcoming poll, has alleged that President Uhuru’s administration is sending troops to his strongholds as the repeat election approach.
But Uhuru said the police, jointly with other internal agencies, are the ones deployed to oversee the security of the election process but not the military.
“This is just propaganda and an attempt to create fear. The military is deployed to protect Kenya’s borders because they are meant to protect Kenya’s sovereign integrity,” he said.
Uhuru reiterated that he will not hold dialogue with the Opposition leader before the repeat election and accused Raila of using the same “to grasp for himself a coalition government”.
“I have refused and said am not interested in dialogue with him. I am interested in the decision of Kenyans. If he wants to lead this country, he must accept that leadership is granted by the people through voting,” Uhuru said.
Source link-the-star.co.ke
We can only talk after Thursday election, Uhuru tells Raila
