Piece by: JAMES MBAKA

22 May 2023

• Raila said Kenya Kwanza in its schemes against Jubilee is to give itself a super-majority in Parliament.

• Raila said part of Kenya Kwanza's plan is to forcefully co-opt the Jubilee party into the alliance to enhance its numerical strength in the bicameral house.

Azimio Leader Raila Odinga has accused President William Ruto's Kenya government of scheming to remove the presidential term limit.

The opposition chief said on Monday that the Kenya Kwanza regime is determined to cobble a big political alliance that will give it parliamentary strength to amend the constitution.

The current constitution provides that a president shall serve for a maximum of two five-year terms.

Raila said part of Kenya Kwanza's plan is to forcefully co-opt the Jubilee party into the alliance to enhance its numerical strength in the bicameral house.

''The end game by Kenya Kwanza in its schemes against Jubilee is to give itself a super-majority in Parliament that will enable them to amend the constitution towards desired goals including the possible removal of term limits," Raila told the Jubilee delegates.

"I urge you not to give up on that regime governed by empathy for citizens, honesty, and accountability as opposed to the lies Kenya Kwanza sold and continues to sell."

For a constitutional amendment to sail through in Parliament, it must be supported by at least 233 members of the National Assembly and 47 of the 67 members of the Senate.

Raila warned that should the schemes to subdue Jubilee succeed, then multiparty democracy will be under serious threat in the country.

"Accountability will be severely compromised. Bad manners and barbaric leadership will be cemented in a huge chunk of our society," he said during the Jubilee National Delegates Convention.

The opposition leader accused Kenya Kwanza of planning to revert Kenya into a one-party state as was the case under the late president Daniel Moi.

''In this, the regime is walking on a well-trodden path, Kenya Kwanza is working on an arrangement similar to that of 1964 that saw Kaddu walk across the aisle and join Kanu without its members of Parliament having to seek a fresh mandate,'' Raila said.

Raila said part of Jubilee's problems emanate from the fact that Kenya Kwanza wants to kill it to get space to consolidate parliament for constitutional changes.

''Kenya Kwanza wants to ensure that Jubilee as a party can't continue to exist on this side of the aisle. They want Jubilee dead the same way Kaddu died after which the events followed that saw Kenya become a de facto one-party democracy in 1969 before it was made a de jure one-party state in one afternoon in 1982."