The opposition in Kenya announced on Wednesday that they have canceled Thursday’s planned anti-government rallies after striking a deal with President William Ruto’s administration.
Raila Odinga, a seasoned opposition politician, and his Azimio La Umoja (Declaration of Unity) coalition issued a statement saying they had “agreed to once more suspend the mass protests that we had earlier scheduled to continue tomorrow.”
After Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza (Kenya First) alliance agreed “to one of our demands,” the protests were called off, as stated in the statement. The opposition has been silent about the agreement’s specifics.
The coalition’s twice-weekly rallies, which began in March to draw attention to high living expenses and suspected electoral fraud from the previous year, continued on Monday.
Odinga also claims that Ruto stole the election from him last year, therefore he is using the demonstrations to put political pressure on him.
There have been occasional violent occurrences, including property burning and the deployment of tear gas, during the protests.
The demonstrations were temporarily halted in early April when the opposition agreed to discussions with representatives of Ruto, but the opposition then said they would continue the protests, accusing the administration of not talking in good faith.
