President Uhuru Kenyatta and NASA leader Raila Odinga held a formal meeting for the first time after last year’s general elections at Harambee House in Nairobi on Friday. The two leaders agreed to join forces and work towards bringing the nation together, prioritizing national unity over politics and political alignments. Addressing the press at Harambee House, President Kenyatta said that the country is greater than any individual and all leaders must come together, “We must be able to discuss the differences freely and openly to know what is ailing the country,” he said, “We must know what is the reason and cause for ethnic divisions. We have the responsibility as leaders to discuss issues and find solutions that will bind us together and give the nation a long life cycle.”
He hailed the advent of a new beginning in the country, saying elections come and go but the nation prevails, “OUr future can’t be dictated by forthcoming elections. Democracy is not the ends but its just a process by which the will of the people is heard,” said President Kenyatta, adding that the national good should always prevail. He further called on all leaders and every Kenyan to work together to ensure a harmonious Kenya prevails where no individual is left behind, “We can differ in terms of political alignment but let’s remain united in matters Kenya,” he reiterated.
On his part, Raila Odinga said the tim has finnaly come to solve diffreences which have become too entrenche dto ignore. He said efforts have been mad ein teh past to carry out institutional reforms but even these have not helped, “Sevena nd a half uyars gao we saww the new constitution as an instrument to revolutionize teh nation, we create dthe ebst hardware any nation can possess in order to engineer our affairs but we must be courageous enough to admit it hasb’t worked becaue we are yet tio upfgrade our software,” said Raila.
He said the nation’s diversity is proving to be a source of contention and strife and millions of children continue to be born into these differences in the country, that have arisen from political affiliations and ideological differences, given that diversity shouldn’t be a source of misunderstandings. “We refuse to allow diversty to kill our nation and we refuse to be the leaders under whose watch Kenya will become a failed nation,” he said. He warned that the nation’s diversity may prove to be a curse to future generations.
Moreover, the opposition leader criticized the modes of problem-solving in the country, which have seen an accumulation of hatred and lack of peace, “We have responded to challenges by running away from them. We have moved from year to year, not dealing with these challenges,” he pointed out.
The meeting between the two leaders comes hours before United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Kenya, and also comes after concerted efforts from different quarters and bodies, both local and international, to encourage the two leaders to dialogue. The political atmosphere in Kenya had turned ugly especially after the general elections, with a war of words ensuing among leaders and confrontations witnessed in some parts of the country.