Bipartisan talks: Stormy session as Kioni, Omar clash
A near fist fight between Jubilee Party Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni and EALA MP Omar Hassan almost scuttled a National Dialogue Committee meeting at the Bomas of Kenya on Thursday.
Kioni’s recent sentiments that the talks are going nowhere and that he would have long withdrawn from the dialogue had he been in the position of coalition leader Raila Odinga, seemed to have irked Omar.
During the two-hour long meeting, there was a near melee as Jubilee Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni and EALA MP Hassan Omar were engaged in a war of words that almost turned ugly.
The EALA lawmaker was irked by sentiments by Kioni earlier in the week that the talks were a waste of time.
Kioni on his end, said that Hassan Omar was being disrespectful to the Jubilee Party.
The meeting was considering recommendations from their technical team, on whether they could agree on proposed interim measures to be implemented while the talks are underway.
The proposals contained in a document titled “Harmonised unbundling of issues” had among other things sought to have the suspension of the Finance Act 2023 as an interim measure, as the leaders find a solution to the skyrocketing cost of living.
But as it would appear, the team did not agree on most of the interim demands, sending their technical teams back to the drawing board.
In Azimio’s list of 16 issues presented as interim measures it appears the key thing agreed on as an interim measure is that the security of leaders across the country has to be reinstated.
The committee continues with its sittings today, as it starts to hear presentations from interest groups.