At Uhuru Park, Mr Odinga said the invitation had come too late.
Cord leader Raila Odinga on Thursday told a prayer meeting in Kisumu that he and President Uhuru Kenyatta had agreed to form a team to spearhead talks on how to disband the electoral commission.
But State House has said that that was not true.
During the prayer rally to mourn the three people who were killed during IEBC protests last week, Mr Odinga also named the five people that will represent Cord in the talks, which he said had been agreed on at State House on Tuesday.
“I am ready to swear with the Bible. We agreed that we should come up with a team of five each from the coalitions, and it is very dishonest of the President and his Deputy to lie to Kenyans on national television,” Mr Odinga said.
He was referring to President Kenyatta’s sentiment during Madaraka Day celebrations that it was not possible for a few people to have their way at all times.
A statement from State House late Wednesday refuted claims that Mr Kenyatta and Mr Odinga had agreed to form a 10-member team to lead talks on how to disband the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
The statement by State House Spokesman Manoah Esipisu said the President supported the mechanism set out in the Constitution, which gives Parliament the power to remove commissioners after receiving petitions.
Mr Odinga said he had given the governing Jubilee Coalition until Sunday to appoint its team.
He also named Senators James Orengo (Siaya), Johnson Muthama (Machakos) and MPs Eseli Simiyu (Tongaren), Mishi Mboko (Mombasa) and Junet Mohammed (Suna East) to represent Cord in the talks.
Earlier Balambala MP Abdikadir Aden had been named to the team but Mr Mohammed was picked to replace him.
NOT ILLEGAL
Speaking during the Kisumu prayer rally, Mr Odinga said: “We are waiting for five names from Jubilee. Should they fail to give out the names, I will be leading the Opposition to the streets on Monday as usual.”
He said it was not wrong to agree outside Parliament and gave an example of the 1997 Inter-Parties Parliamentary Group and the Serena talks which led to the formation of the Grand Coalition Government in 2008.
“It is not unconstitutional to hold talks out of Parliament. In Serena those who sat for the talks that included Deputy President William Ruto were MPs but still agreed on the formation of the Grand Coalition government in a hotel,” Mr Odinga said.
On Wednesday, State House said it had not agreed to form such a team.
Meanwhile, sources have said that a failed phone call from State House on Tuesday evening could have been to blame for the failure by Mr Odinga and Ford Kenya Leader Moses Wetang’ula to honour the President’s Madaraka Day invitation.
Mr Kenyatta, who met the two leaders on Tuesday, had invited them to Nakuru where this year’s national celebrations were to be held.
However, neither Mr Odinga nor Mr Wetang’ula showed up. Instead, they waited in Nairobi for the State function to end before addressing a rally at Uhuru Park.
Cord leaders said they waited for a call from State House but it never came. They said President Kenyatta and Mr Ruto were to call Mr Odinga in the night after seeing off visiting South Korean President Park Geun-Hye.
According to Cord leaders, the call had not come by 6am on Wednesday. It was then that Mr Odinga communicated his decision to his allies, confirming he would not travel to Nakuru.
Sources in Cord also said that a military helicopter had been reserved to fly Mr Odinga and Mr Wetang’ula to Afraha Stadium.
The helicopter had been waiting for the two at the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation grounds at Karen, near Mr Odinga’s home. They never boarded it.
And at Afraha, two seats reserved in the front row of the presidential dais for the Cord leaders remained unoccupied during the celebrations.
TOO LATE
On Thursday, State House sources refuted the claims by the Cord leaders. They said the telephone call was only meant to discuss Cord’s Uhuru Park rally in view of the visit by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. Mr Erdogan arrived in Nairobi on Thursday.
The State House sources said it was Mr Ruto — not the President — who was to call Mr Odinga after consulting the Inspector-General of Police on security arrangements.
The sources said it was Mr Ruto who had raised the security issue because the Cord rally was slated to take place between President Park’s departure and arrival of President Erdogan.
According to the sources, Mr Odinga raised the issue of IEBC commissioners but the President told him that they would discuss it after the Madaraka Day celebrations.
The President was said to have indicated that since both sides were in agreement about reforming IEBC, they could go together to Nakuru and start talks over the commission thereafter.
He, however, insisted that Parliament remained the best option.
It was then agreed that the two Cord leaders would travel to Nakuru and arrangements would be made to fly them to Nairobi for their rally later in the afternoon.
Addressing wananchi during the celebrations on Wednesday, President Kenyatta said: “I invited them but I don’t know why they didn’t come.”
At Uhuru Park, Mr Odinga said the invitation had come too late.
“This is not an act of defiance,” he told the rally. In Kisumu on Thursday, Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo blamed Mr Ruto for the failure of the talks to take off.
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