The Catholic Church played a major role in brokering the truce that saw Azimio One Kenya leader Raila Odinga call off Monday’s anti-government protests, averting what had threatened to turn out into a bloody confrontation between demonstrators and police.

This was bolstered by a joint confidential statement that Western nations’ diplomatic missions wrote to Azimio and which likely played a role, among other factors, in leading Raila to call off the demonstrations.

“Church leaders, especially the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, among other emissaries, played a significant role in Sunday’s truce,” said a source close to the talks, but who requested not to identified due to the confidentiality involved.

According to the source, government honchos declined the call for a physical roundtable discussion with Raila or any other Azimio leader as this would have strained the Kenya Kwanza coalition.

“President William Ruto was adamant that his leadership was tethered to a partnership with grassroots leaders as represented in Parliament and the Kenya Kwanza Alliance partners,” said the source. That meant he would not be pulled into a one-on-one discussion on national issues with an individual or the Azimio la Umoja leadership.

The source further revealed President Ruto and Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua were unwilling to consider the possibility of forming a hybrid government with Azimio as happened during the then President Mwai Kibaki’s tenure when he formed the Grand Coalition Government.

According to the highly placed source, the issue of a post-election pact was not feasible as the government said this would defeat the objective of an electoral process. As a result, the question of a power sharing agreement was off the table, he said.