President William Ruto on Monday said that he was ready to call Opposition leader Raila Odinga “my. dear brother” if it is the only way to appeal to him to end demos.
“If calling Raila Odinga my brother will make him stop the protests and violence, destruction of property, I will call him that 10 times. I will even call him my dear brother,” Ruto said.
He spoke when he hosted the Muslim community for an Iftar dinner at StateHouse, Nairobi.
Ruto said it was time the country moved on from violence and destruction of public property.
He said it was not feasible to deliver on his promises with the opposition demos going on and leading to property destruction.
Acknowledging that the responsibility to lower the cost of living was his, he urged the opposition to be patient.
“Let them calm down so that I can plan,” he said.
He further urged them to give the Parliamentary negotiation committee a chance to get solutions for the issues raised by the Raila Odinga team.
Ruto assured that the government was determined to change the country’s economy.
Following the April 2 address, Raila called off weekly demos.
However, the chief opposition leader said he will unveil a second phase of nationwide mass action after the holy month of Ramadhan, which is set to end on April 20.
“I agree with what you have said, the talks will happen alongside demos. We will fight fire with fire. We will announce after the holy month of Ramadhan,” Raila said.
