Uhuru: Nothing political about pact with Raila

President Uhuru Kenyatta chats with Deputy President William Ruto during the memorial service of the Late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta at the Holy Family Basilica. First Lady Margaret Kenyatta (middle) was in attendance. PHOTO | DPPS

What you need to know:

  • President Kenyatta said that his deal with Mr Odinga was not a political pact.
  • Politically, the pact has unsettled friends and foes on both ends.
  • The President has in the past defended the deal as one not geared towards the 2022 elections, and warned those against it to toe the line.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has come out in his biggest defence yet of the historic March 9 deal with opposition leader Raila Odinga, saying the pact was a “much deeper understanding” between them.

As a result, the president on Wednesday regretted that some politicians had misinterpreted the deal — formalised after the gazettement of a 14-member Building Bridges to Unity Advisory Task Force in May — as a political pact.

Those criticism are misadvised, he said, and insisted that his deal with Mr Odinga was not a political pact, but one that would help Kenya fight corruption, deal with historical mistakes, and foster unity.

POLITICAL PACT

“I have heard people out there saying in newspapers and rallies that this is a political pact," said President Kenyatta.

“I want you to understand that there is a much, much deeper understanding between myself and Raila Odinga. I appeal to all politicians that, while there can never be an end to politics, they should never misinterpret politics with this deeper understanding.”

Deputy President William Ruto (left) and Opposition leader Raila Odinga during the memorial service of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta at the Holy Family Basilica, Nairobi, on August 22, 2018. PHOTO | DPPS

He was speaking at the Holy Family Basilica during the 40th anniversary memorial service for Kenya’s founding father, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, which was attended by Mr Odinga, Deputy President William Ruto, four Cabinet secretaries, and a host of members of Parliament.

He has in the past defended the deal as one not geared towards the 2022 elections, and warned those against it to toe the line.

On Wednesday, he said the agreement was driven by “a desire to ensure that we leave this country much stronger, more united, more focused, than it has ever been”.

VIOLENCE

“Politics will come and go, but Kenya will remain,” said the president.

“The only thing about (this handshake) is that politics will never again drive Kenya into bloodshed, violence and destruction of property.”

The handshake has moved from one mystery to another, with an endless conversation, even from within President Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party, that the deal could only be unpacked, and explained, by the two individuals.

Politically, the pact has unsettled friends and foes on both ends. For some on Mr Ruto’s side — the indefatigable President Kenyatta’s Number Two gunning for the top seat in 2022 — the pact means an energised Mr Odinga being groomed for another stab at the presidency in 2022, a run that will be his fifth in a sprawling political career spanning three decades.

NON INCLUSIVE

Those in the National Super Alliance (Nasa), the Odinga-led opposition coalition, have been divided into two: those who feel that the handshake was non-inclusive and should be cascaded beyond the duo, and those who are on the sidelines, waiting for a windfall of the Biblical milk and honey in Canaan.

Among the former is Amani National Congress’ Musalia Mudavadi, who on Tuesday told Citizen TV that "the handshake has achieved a measure of tranquillity, but my issue with it is that it is vague”.

“What is the structure?” wondered Mr Mudavadi. “Have resources been allocated to the Building Bridges task-force?”

In the nine-point agenda the two leaders signed and sealed with a famous handshake on the steps of Harambee House, Mr Odinga and President Kenyatta vowed to end corruption and divisive elections, strengthen devolution, and address ethnic antagonism, lack of national ethos, inclusivity, and safety and security of Kenyans for a shared prosperity.

CORRUPTION

The nine issues will now be concretised by the 14-member team chaired by Garissa senator Yusuf Haji and deputised by University of Nairobi academic Adams Oloo.

Former First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta at the Mausoleum of Kenya's founding father, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, at Parliament buildings on August 22, 2018. PHOTO | DPPS

The team which will make periodic written recommendations for action by government and will submit its comprehensive advice not later than May 31 next year.

“Corruption is a vice, and it does not matter whether you are in government or outside it,” said President Kenyatta. “We must come together to fight it so that we can ensure that Kenyans benefit from their own taxes, as they should.”

On his father, who died on August 22, 1978, when President Kenyatta was 17, the Head of State said Mzee Kenyatta had made great strides, even as he asked Kenyans to see him as human as he was.

HARD WORK

"We are not here to glorify the man. He was human, and being human, there were great things he managed to achieve for this country and there were also issues that he was confronted with, just like all of us,” said President Kenyatta.

Deputy President William Ruto said of Mzee Kenyatta: “He consolidated the country into a nation. He left a legacy of hard work, enterprise and wealth creation.”

On his part, Mr Odinga asked Kenyans to use the great sacrifice the founding fathers made to forge a nation of unity.

“We should try to recapture the dreams of our founding fathers,” he said.