KIKWETE WISHES UHURU, RAILA AND KENYANS PEACEFUL ELECTION
Nairobi. Retired President Jakaya Kikwete has wished the people of Kenya a peaceful election, but reminded the political elite that post-election peace and stability depends on how they conduct themselves during this important period.
Speaking at a prayer service for fallen Kenyan politician Nicholaus Biwott on Tuesday, the retired President particularly singled out President Uhuru Kenyatta and National Super Alliance (Nasa) presidential candidate Raila Odinga as the ones, who would make the country peaceful and stable.
“As I wish the country a peaceful, free and fair election, I want to remind the Kenyan political elite that it is them, who will make it happen,” he said on Tuesday at the AIC Milimani Church in Nairobi.
Mr Kikwete is among those, who pioneered the 2008 National Peace Accord that ended the post-election violence and established the Grand Coalition Government between President Mwai Kibaki and Mr Odinga.
Mr Kikwete urged President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga to ensure peace and stability was maintained before and after the August General Election.
“If Mr Odinga was here, I would have told him that together with President Kenyatta the peace and stability of this country is in their hands,” he said.
The Nasa leader attended the service of the man he once served in the cabinet with after the merger between Kanu and his National Development Party (NDP), in 2001.
However, Mr Odinga left when the mass was halfway through and a few minutes after the arrival of the former Tanzanian leader.
Mr Kikwete expressed condolences to the Biwott family and the Kenyan public, noting that he had lost a friend and that the East African Community was all the poorer as it had lost a person committed to regional integration.
The two met in the 1980s, when both served as ministers of Energy in their respective countries.
They met again in the 1990s, when Mr Kikwete was the Foreign minister and Mr Biwott was in charge of the ministry of the East African Community, where they, together with Ugandan Eriya Kategeya, negotiated the Agreement on Tripartite Cooperation, which was later upgraded to the EAC Treaty in 1999.
He pointed out that Mr Biwott had been instrumental in the establishment of the East African road network after realising that movement within the region could be hampered by a poor road network.
He recounted some intrigues that went on before the treaty was signed, revealing that it was Mr Biwott’s wisdom that broke up the deadlock.
“Mr Biwott’s arrival at the ministry of EAC came at a critical stage of the integration, especially, when we were negotiating the protocol on the Customs Union. We worked overtime and it is his wisdom that ended the deadlock,” stressed Mr Kikwete.
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