Wait for 2022 and Dialogue with Ruto, President Uhuru Tells Raila

President Uhuru says that election period is done and those who want dialogue can wait for 2022 and discuss with Deputy President William Ruto as he will be retiring from politics.

Speaking during the burial of Susan Wairimu, the mother of Murang’a Women Representative Sabina Chege in Kinyona Village in Kigumo Constituency, Murang’a County on Saturday, the President said it was time for the country to leave politics behind and move forward.

“Kenyans want to see our country moving forward and that is the dialogue we want to participate in. Lakini hii ya kuongea siasa ingoje 2022. Mtaongea na William. Mimi nitakuwa nikienda nyumbani .” (Politics can wait until 2022; you will dialogue with William when I will be leaving office,") he said.

He added: “It is time to work not engaging in talk. I am requesting leaders, whether in government or not, to end politics and unite to work for Kenyans."

Speaking at the same ceremony, Deputy President Ruto echoed President Kenyatta's sentiments on dialogue between government and the opposition.

“The President has a duty to unite Kenyans and that that will form part of his legacy when he exits the scene. The political period is over and our agenda is to bring development to Kenyans,” said Ruto.

This comes only a day after opposition leaders led by Raila Odinga met foreign envoys at his Capitol Hill office in Nairobi, in a bid to pull the two warring sides on the dialogue table. The envoys urged the opposition to drop the planned swearing in of Odinga as people's president and dialogue with Jubilee.

“The discussions centred on the need for the government, opposition and all Kenyans to engage in open and transparent national conversation to address the underlying issues that threaten the Nation’s stability and unity following recent elections,” read a statement sent to newsrooms by Odinga’s spokesperson Dennis Onyango.