Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and long time political rival, Raila Odinga have Friday afternoon held a meeting for the first time since last year’s controversial presidential poll and agreed to put off their political differences in order to build the country.
The meeting which was highly unexpected was held from the Harambee house in Nairobi just days before the visit by United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who is on his maiden tour to Africa.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, the duo pledged to start a new era by putting their political differences aside and rooted for cooperation from the people of Kenya.
“Time has come for us to confront our differences because they are becoming too entrenched. We refuse to allow our diversity to kill our nation, we refuse to be the leaders under whose watch Kenyans were led into a failed nation,” Odinga said.
President Kenyatta described the meeting as a new start for the progress of the coastal country.
“This country is greater than any one individual and for this country to come together, leaders must come together and address what ails our nation.This marks a new beginning for our country and that we can differ in political alignment but always remain steadfast and united in matters Kenya,” Mr Kenyatta said.
Today’s meeting has come amid speculations of irreconcilable differences within the main opposition National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition, with each of the principals rooting for holding the coalition flag in the 2022 presidential polls.
Meanwhile, opposition figure, Miguna Miguna has already rubbished the Uhuru-Odinga talks describing them as betrayal by Odinga on the side of the “change thirty Kenyans”.