President William Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga on Friday, March 7 signed a framework agreement at an event in KICC, Nairobi.
In the agreement, Ruto and Raila have agreed on 10 key issues that affect Kenyans.
The two leaders have agreed on the full implementation of the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO)Report.
“Priority issues in the NADCO report like the cost of living, youth unemployment, establishing a framework for the implementation of the two-thirds gender rule have been the topic of discussion for far too long and now must be actualized,” the agreement reads in part.
Ruto and Raila also agreed on the inclusivity of all Kenyans regardless of ethnicity, religion, and geographic location.
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“Kenya belongs to all persons regardless of their ethnicity, religion or geographic location, all Kenyans are equal and all entitled to an equitable budgetary resource allocation and public appointments,” the MoU stated.
The two agreed on protecting and strengthening devolution in the country by ensuring more effort is put into devolving all funds allocated to a devolved function, increasing budgetary allocation to counties and ensuring the timely and predictable disbursement of devolved funds.
President Ruto and the former Prime Minister further agreed to promote and protect the livelihoods of young people by ensuring the government makes massive investments in all high-potential sectors of the economy including Mining, blue economy, Agriculture, and ICT, to create sufficient employment opportunities that provide ways for young people to earn a decent living.
At the same time, the two leaders agreed that the expression of opulence and rudeness by public officers must come to an end.
“Kenyans are concerned by the expression of opulence accompanied by rude and arrogant conduct of public officers. And the impunity that has followed the same. It must be enforced that the demeanor of public servants needs to reflect the dignity of their offices. We must also urgently provide a legal framework for addressing conflict of interest among public servants,” the memorandum stated.
Further, they agreed on the right to peaceful assembly and protest and compensation for all pending claims of abuse of rights.
They noted that efforts to uphold the right to assembly must now involve not just the taking of responsibilities by officers who break the law but also compensation of the victims.
On the national debt, Raila and Ruto agreed that an urgent audit must be conducted of how much has been borrowed in the past and how it has been used.
“Going forward we must stop the ballooning of the national debt and ensure accountability for future borrowing,” the memorandum added.
Additionally, Ruto and Raila agreed to enhance the fight against corruption, stopping the wastage of government resources and protecting the sovereignty of the people, the rule of law, and constitutionalism.
