Former Kakamega governor Wycliffe Oparanya has lifted the lid on the intrigues behind the day-long meeting that saw Azimio leader halt demonstrations after reaching a deal with President William Ruto.
The crunch talks happened on 02 April, a day before what the opposition chief had termed would be the mother of all demonstrations to force the Kenya Kwanza administration to give in to their demands, among them being resigning immediately.
As an apprehensive nation awaited how the situation would play out, a team of five Kenya Kwanza operatives led by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Noordin Haji met Odinga’s team of three to broker a deal.
"He (Haji) is the one who initiated it. You got that information earlier, so I could not hide it. That very day - on Sunday, April 2, when the announcement was made, the teams sat from the morning.
"Later on, there are those who joined from the Kenya Kwanza side and there are also others who joined from our side," Oparanya said.
The heated talks saw the team of ten spend the whole day negotiating a deal that was acceptable to both parties and updating the principals on the same.
After hours, a deal was reached with President William Ruto delivering a State of The Nation Address from State House.
Shortly afterwards, Odinga also addressed the press and called of the demonstrations to give a bipartisan dialogue process a chance.
The former governor explained that as a sign of good faith, DPP Haji dropped cases that had been filed against a section of politicians and Azimio protesters.
His explanation is in line with recent claims by the Azimio chief that President Ruto sent emissaries that saw him call off the protests.
Raila noted that contrary to what is being peddled by Kenya Kwanza politicians, he did not meet Ruto and is not interested in a handshake government.