President Uhuru Kenyatta has defended the March 8, 2018, handshake between him and ODM leader Rail Odinga saying it saved the country a whopping KSh 1 trillion.
Speaking on Sunday, December 12, during the Jamhuri day celebrations, the president said he agreed to the handshake because they saw a crack on the wall of our nation which was costing the country up to KSh1 billion because of the divide that existed then.
“We saw a crack on the wall of our nation. We had run two elections that cost the country Sh1 trillion in business losses and we were staring at a nation divided right in the middle,” President Uhuru said.
The Head of State further said that Kenyans need to come together and mend the cracks on the walls of our nation.
“We ask Kenyans need each other as our forefathers taught us, to come together reinforced our resolve,” the President said.
Uhuru who is expected to hang his boots in August 2022, further revisited the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), which he said, although it encountered some legal obstacles, it is only a dream deferred.
“One day, someday, it will happen, because the country cannot survive ethnic majoritarianism and exclusion just as it cannot survive unfair and skewed representation,” he said.
Deputy President William Ruto has on several times quoted castigating President Uhuru’s handshake with Raila saying it derailed the Big Four agenda, which he now says he is ready to accomplish if elected president next year.
“My competitors should shun divisive and ethnic-based politics and instead focus on how to improve the livelihood of millions of Kenyans living below the poverty line. Our agenda was hijacked by the handshake which brought about disharmony in the ruling Jubilee Party,” Ruto said in October during a rally at Nyakembene, South Mugirango in Kisii County.