Azimio la Umoja - One Kenya coalition leader Raila Odinga now claims President William Ruto is being pushed by the international community to create the office of the Official Opposition Leader.
Speaking during an interview with KTN News on Tuesday night, the opposition chief claimed that Ruto anticipated Azimio would win the presidential poll and advocated for the establishment of the office of the Official Opposition Leader ahead of the August 2022 polls as a backup plan during his engagements with senior diplomats in the country.
After being declared President in August, Raila claims, the diplomats approached Ruto and asked him to create the same office he had proposed.
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"They knew that they were not going to form the government. When senior diplomats talked to him (Ruto) in July they asked him what he would do in the event he lost the elections. He said that he wanted to be a powerful opposition leader and wants them to help him pressurise me to create the position of opposition leader," Raila said.
"After the elections, they approached him and told him to create what he had asked to be created. That's the origin of this proposal. This I have gotten from several diplomats," he added.
Raila was responding to claims that Ruto wants to use the office of opposition leader to "manage" him.
Ruto in December wrote to Speakers of both the National Assembly and Senate to consider the introduction of a constitutional amendment bill to set up the office of the Official Opposition Leader.
The proposed law, which Kenya Kwanza MPs have been asked to pass, will also give Raila powers to appoint his allies to independent and constitutional commissions and address Parliament and the nation periodically.
To be funded by taxpayers, the bill will give Raila, and future holders of the office, powers and discretion to solicit and mobilise for funding from donors as one way to supplement its budgetary allocation and to finance its activities.
