President Uhuru Kenyatta has expressed optimism that the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) will be the answer to Kenya’s divisive politics and the cycle of election-related violence.
Attributing the slow economic growth over the last 30 years to election violence, he said BBI seeks to find a home-grown solution.
“Once the election comes, everything stops… business stops one year before an election and restarts one year after. It is impossible to bring prosperity and long-term economic stability that is required for a nation to develop and grow without stable peace,” President Kenyatta said yesterday.
He was speaking during the 68th US National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC.
The President recounted Kenya’s history of election-related ethnic conflicts since the adoption of multiparty democracy in the early 1990s, and noted that his peace pact with main political rival Raila Odinga was motivated by the desire to bring these disruptions to an end.
“We shook hands and embraced, and that one single moment changed the whole country. Since then, we have walked as brothers, we have brought on board (Kenyans) and the process that we started is not a political process but rather a process that seeks to entrench our democracy,” he said.
Kenya has begun the process of reconciliation and national healing through the BBI, he added.
“The greatest gift that we can possibly ever leave the people of Kenya is the gift of peace, the gift of love and unity of all our people. And that’s the mission that we are on,” the President said. He went on to express satisfaction that millions of Kenyans have joined the initiative.
Mr Odinga said he shares the President’s determination and commitment to achieve national cohesion through the BBI process by building trust and unity among Kenyans.
He added that the BBI is a historical journey to a united and stable Kenya, and that it will also help address several challenges facing the country, including youth unemployment, corruption and negative ethnicity.
Senator Christopher Coons, the chairman of the subcommittee on African Affairs of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, spoke fondly of President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga, saying the determination by the two leaders to unite their country by reaching out to each other and closing ranks makes them global role models.