President Uhuru Kenyatta has finally broken his silence on the brazen attack against Azimio la Umoja presidential candidate Raila Odinga and his entourage in Soy, Uasin Gishu County on Friday.
Uhuru was addressing a crowd on Sunday after attending a worship service at AIC pipeline church where he officially opened the AIC Pipeline Church Education Complex.
While regretting the incident, president Uhuru said no Kenyan should be attacked based on their political stand.
He called for tolerance among all Kenyans, including politicians during this electioneering period.
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Uhuru also cautioned politicians against incitement while they are hunting for votes, saying all Kenyans belong in the country and after the elections, all Kenyans will remain in the country.
"Nobody will leave Kenya after elections. We all belong here, so let us go to the elections in peace," Uhuru said.
Uhuru asked Kenyans to play a scenario in which Raila was injured in the attack and said it would have plunged the country into chaos.
“There is no need for violence. Why are you stoning a helicopter carrying Baba? How will that help you? If anything catastrophic occurred as a result of that, wouldn’t the country be on fire? Is that what we want?" Uhuru posed.
The president advised that Kenyans should embrace mature politics void of violence and full of tolerance.
He gave the recent example when a section of politicians went to campaign in his Gatundu backyard and insulted him, but he did not retaliate.
"You saw what happened at my home in Gatundu. They insulted me at my doorstep, but I chose to be silent about it," the president said.
The head of state appealed to the political class to exhibit characters that would allow Kenyans to live peacefully and go about their businesses as usual, notwithstanding people's portfolios.
"But most importantly, especially for us political leaders, we should behave in a manner that allows our people to live in peace and to go about their business regardless of who sits in which position," he said.
He urged Kenyans to shun violence and avoid being influenced negatively by selfish politicians with ulterior motives.
Uhuru advised Kenyans to avoid going at each other and instead wait until election time to elect leaders of their choice.
"So ask ourselves, if you take a stone or a slasher to go and cut your friend instead of waiting for the next five years to elect your leader of choice, then you have lost direction," he advised.
The president said that even though it is the responsibility of Kenyans to vote for their leaders; it is God’s will that is always final.
