Omatath calls for dialogue between Raila, Ruto urges them to put Kenyans first

 

Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has called for dialogue between the opposition leader Raila Odinga and President William Ruto.

Omtatah said the talks should put the sovereignty of Kenyans first at the expense of international corporations.

Speaking to Citizen TV on Tuesday, Omtatah said the current impasse has held the country at ransom adding that Kenya has continued to depreciate against her neighbours.

He claimed when President Ruto took over power the Ksh exchanged against Ush at 36 Ush to 1 Ksh. However, that has depreciated from Ksh20 to 1Ush, losing 16 points against Uganda.

“Kenya is depreciating against her neighbours. Are we doing nothing or are we doing all the wrong things? We are getting poorer than our neighbours, our economy is shrinking, investors are ruining away,” he said.

He said the country is on autopilot and called on the two leaders to prioritise their talks on how they will save the country from external debts.

“When they meet I would like the question of article 1 of our Constitution to be primary that the people are sovereign and not the IMF, not the World Bank,” Omtatah said.

“Let’s get our country back from these two institutions and let's organise our finances and run our economy the way it is supposed to be run, to benefit Kenyans and not for the benefit of multinational corporations.”

Ruto on Sunday maintained that the country will not borrow funds to meet government expenditures.

He said he has held a series of meetings with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other key lenders to stop the country from sinking into further debts.

“We must tell ourselves the truth. We can’t continue to drive our country on debt because, for the past eight months, I had a tough job of stabilising the economy because we were headed in the wrong direction with too many debts,” he said.    BY THE STAR