Former Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete's Message to Uhuru and Raila

Former Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete has told President Uhuru Kenyatta and his rival in the August 8th presidential election, NASA's Raila Odinga, that peace and stability in Kenya during and after the upcoming poll lay in their hands.

Kikwete lectured the political elite that post-election peace and stability in the country is pegged on how they conduct themselves during this electioneering period.

“As I wish the country a peaceful, free and fair election, I want to remind the Kenyan political elite that it is them who make it happen,” he said on Tuesday during the memorial service of former powerful Cabinet Minister Nicholas Biwott at the AIC Milimani Church in Nairobi.

Kikwete was a key figure in brokering the 2008 National Peace Accord that formed the Grand Coalition Government between President Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga, ending the post-election violence that rocked Kenya following disputed presidential elections results.

“If 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.

Kikwete condoled with Biwott family and the Kenyan public, noting that Kenya and the East Africa had lost a key leader, who worked tirelessly during his reign at East Africa Community Ministry.

“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,” said Kikwete.