Kenyan Newspapers Review for April 19: Bipartisan Talks Face Jeopardy as Raila Team Place New Demands

The local dailies on Wednesday, April 19, highlighted the political goings-on in the country, the jeopardy faced by the scheduled bipartisan talks pitting the government against the opposition taking centre stage.

The newspapers also reported on a deadly road crash that left five students dead on Tuesday, April 18.

1. People Daily

The publication reported on the state of the bipartisan talks, which are yet to start as both parties hold on to their respective stances.

President William Ruto made overtures to opposition leader Raila Odinga and proposed a bipartisan approach to the issues that informed the mass action protests.

Ruto however maintained that the process ought to be undertaken through the house(s) of parliament.

The Raila-led side is opposed to the parliamentary approach, demanding that the talks be held outside parliament; the legislators' work would be to ratify what would have been resolved.

The president's side has held that they will operate from his instructions; these hardline stances by the parties tend to jeopardise the talks, which would have otherwise started close to three weeks after the Ruto-Raila truce.

Raila's side wants the talks to be centred on the cost of living, audit of the IEBC servers, inclusive reconstitution of the IEBC team ahead of the 2027 vote and reinstatement of the four commissioners led by Juliana Cherera.

2. Daily Nation

The daily reported on a grisly crash on Tuesday, April 18, that left six people dead.

The fatalities were high school students who were travelling home after closing school.

The matatu they were on board crashed into a trailer at Delamare area, Naivasha.

They were travelling from Western Kenya to Nairobi when the accident happened earlier today, Tuesday, April 18.

Naivasha sub-county police commander Emmanuel Bowen confirmed the ghastly accident in which seven people also sustained serious injuries, NTV reported.

Those injured were rushed to the Naivasha county hospital, and by the time of publishing this article, police had arrived at the scene.

Pictures and videos shared from the scene of the incident showed the bodies of the young female students with their possessions scattered all over the place.

The wreckage of the matatu was towed to a police station.