President Uhuru Kenyatta during a discussion
moderated by Ms. Bronwyn Bruton, Director of Programs and Studies at
Atlantic Council, at the Atlantic Council Forum in Washington DC.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has spoken of how he and Opposition leader
Raila Odinga defied hardliners to open negotiations after the disputed
presidential vote. He recalled a tense six-hour face-to-face meeting
leading up to...their truce.
The president and the former Prime Minister were on Wednesday the keynote speakers at a luncheon organised to mark this year’s US National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC. Uhuru narrated the tense and long process leading to the handshake with Mr Odinga, saying they went against the hard-line positions held by their supporters. “We sat in a room and it took almost six hours for us to even begin talking anything... It was what you can call excruciating silence because nobody wanted to be the first to say anything,” President Kenyatta said.
SEE ALSO :After Uhuru decision on housing, state must listen to people more
The president recounted the destabilising impact post-election conflicts have had on the country’s growth over the last 30 years, saying the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) is aimed at finding a homegrown solution to the divisive nature of Kenyan politics. He said that divisive politics and the resultant ethnic tensions negatively affect the country’s development: “Once the election comes, everything stops... business stops one year before an election and restarts one year after an election.” Economic stability He said it is impossible to bring prosperity and long-term economic stability required for a nation to develop and grow without stable peace. “Everybody used to plan their businesses around the election cycle,” President Kenyatta told the international audience made up mostly of senior American officials. SEE ALSO :The wars in Uhuru and Raila political parties
Uhuru, who retraced Kenya’s history of election-related ethnic conflicts since the adoption of multiparty democracy in the early 90s, said his coming together with his main political challenger Raila Odinga was motivated by the realisation that the disruption of the economy by electoral tensions every so often was not sustainable. The president expressed satisfaction that millions of Kenyans have joined and are participating in the BBI process, saying democracy cannot thrive in an environment of political uncertainty. “We shook hands and embraced and that one single moment changed the whole country. Because nobody would ever have imagined that we would shake hands and embrace,” the president said. He continued: “Since then, we have walked as brothers, we have brought onboard (Kenyans) and said that this process that we’ve started is not a political process but rather a process that seeks to entrench our democracy.” Uhuru said that through the BBI, Kenya had begun the process of reconciliation and national healing, adding that his greatest desire is to leave a peaceful and united country. SEE ALSO :Renewables top 90pc of Kenya’s power
Greatest gift “The greatest gift that me and my brother (Raila) can ever leave the people of Kenya is the gift of peace, love and unity of all our people. And that’s the mission that we are on,” he said. Raila said he shares the president’s determination and commitment to achieve national cohesion through the BBI process by building trust and unity among Kenyans. The opposition leader said BBI is a historic journey to a united and stable Kenya, adding that the process will help address several challenges facing the country, including youth unemployment, corruption and negative ethnicity. “We discovered that there were no national ethos. We talked about shared prosperity or disparity in terms of regional development, ethnicity as a factor that divides our people. We talked about issues of corruption as a cancer in our society,” he said. SEE ALSO :It pays to put cash in empowering people
President Uhuru was introduced to the distinguished audience by Senator Christopher Coons, Chairman of the Subcommittee on African Affairs of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
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