US Ambassador Robert Godec yesterday threw his weight behind President Uhuru Kenyatta’s development agenda and urged the opposition to rally behind him.
Godec said the national conversation should move on to challenges facing Kenya and not 2017 election politics.
“The election is finished and it is time the country moved forward by strengthening economic growth and development,” he said during a courtesy call to Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka at Parliament Buildings.
He said the US looks forward to supporting and participating in Uhuru’s four-pillar development programme.
Godec spoke as NASA unveiled plans for the swearing-in of Raila Odinga at the end of this month.
NASA has been pushing for dialogue on electoral justice on grounds that last year’s August 8 and October 26 presidential polls were not credible.
It has refused to recognise Uhuru, arguing the IEBC denied Kenyans their constitutional right to elect their president. On return from Germany last week, Raila’s running mate in the 2017 General Election – Kalonzo Musyoka – said they will be sworn in as the people’s president and deputy respectively if Uhuru declines to dialogue with them.
Uhuru has rejected dialogue calls, insisting he is only ready for national discussions on the economic agenda.
Lusaka reiterated the country has a legally elected President in office and any dialogue should be done within the framework of the Constitution and the President’s development plan.
“We are a country that respects the rule of law and anything that happens should happen within the framework of our Constitution and the law. The President has set an agenda on how he wants to deliver his promises,” Lusaka said. Uhuru has identified manufacturing, food security, health care and housing as his Big Four to deliver on.
