Advertisement
Kagwanja dismisses Raila’s national conclave plan as a waste of time
22nd July, 2025 12:56 AM
People’s Liberation Party Deputy Leader Peter Kagwanja has dismissed ODM leader Raila Odinga’s proposed national conclave as a futile exercise, saying it is a political rerun of previously failed dialogue attempts.
Speaking in an interview on a local media station on July 21, 2025, Kagwanja questioned the rationale of reopening national dialogue when, in his view, the country already underwent a similar process under the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO).
“I want to say this very clearly, without mincing words, if we go this route, we’ll be wasting our time,” Kagwanja asserted.
NADCO implementation
Citing the NADCO talks, Kagwanja criticised Raila’s initiative, pointing out that despite extensive talks, the resulting recommendations were never implemented.
“After the explosion of the protests, destruction of property, and the vandalism of Raila Odinga’s own office, the country agreed to go into talks. Kalonzo Musyoka and Kimani Ichung’wah co-chaired NADCO. They talked, but the talks were never implemented,” he added.
He contended that Raila’s renewed call for a national conversation—framed around assembling a team of 40 young individuals from all 47 counties—is a recycled formula that leads to constitutional reform for political convenience.
“Raila’s formula has always been very clear. One, we will talk. For example, the Bomas talk. After that, we will have a draft constitution. After that, we will have a referendum, and after the referendum, we will go to the election,” he stated.
Part of the problem
Pressed on whether Raila’s call for talks was motivated by fears of instability, Kagwanja dismissed the justification, accusing Raila of fueling the very unrest he now wants to address.
“He is part of the problem. We know for sure he himself is the one who triggered all the protests in January 2023, and we backed him on the issue of high standards of living, and unmet promises, and he listed all these things,” he stated.
The professor questioned whether the focus should be on addressing specific grievances rather than engaging in more dialogue processes.
“We went again and had another protest, and we listed the grievances that are there. Is it the grievances we want addressed, or is it talking?” he posed.
Constitutional concerns
Kagwanja also expressed concern about repeated calls for constitutional processes, arguing that Kenya should focus on enforcing the current constitution rather than revisiting Bomas-style conferences.
“Our constitution is new. It is not even implemented fully, and actually, on the contrary, it is being vandalised, or actually swept aside,” he argued.
“To tell us that we’re going to go again to Bomas of Kenya, and then we come again with another constitutional draft, is basically a waste of our time. We know the issues,” Kagwanja added.
