ODM leader Raila Odinga has maintained that no development would be realised in the country without unity of the people.
Speaking on Sunday at PAG Church in Hardy, Lang'ata constituency, the former Prime Minister said he will be relentless in his call for unity as it is critical to achieving any meaningful economic growth.
“I believe that the Kenyan dream can still be achieved, but there is one condition: the unity of the nation must be there. It is for this reason I am pushing for the unity of the people irrespective of their tribe, religion, age or gender,” he said.
Raila said one of the goals of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) was to unite the country to create an environment conducive for development.
“We had no intention of amending the Constitution when we started the BBI process. Along the way, however, we realised that we needed to amend the Constitution to address some of the issues affecting Kenyans,” he added.
The ODM boss nonetheless assured that the goals of the BBI will still be achieved "when the time comes".
“Reggae is on half-time. When the right time comes, we will be back on the field. At the moment, we are exercising and preparing for that time,” he added.
The Court of Appeal on August 20 rejected a bid to make fundamental changes to the Constitution in a process that was spearheaded by President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila.
The court upheld a High Court decision in May that declared the proposed reforms illegal on the basis that the President acted unconstitutionally.
Raila was accompanied by MPs Anthony Oluoch (Mathare), Babu Owino (Embakasi East), George Aladwa (Makadara), Mark Nyamita (Uriri) and ODM secretary general Edwin Sifuna.
Nyamita said ODM legislators are fully behind Raila in his quest to unite the country.
“We are all fully supporting the former Prime Minister to unite the country as we head towards 2022,” he added.
Oluoch thanked Raila and President Uhuru Kenyatta for remaining committed to uniting the country.
“The good things that were in the BBI have not been lost. It is a journey that the President and former Prime Minister are committed to completing,” he said.
Sifuna said no economic model would produce results in the absence of peace and unity.
“If you take the best economic model to a war torn country, nothing will be achieved. It means therefore we must have a peaceful and united country first before we can talk about which model is the best,” he added.
Aladwa assured Raila that the Luhya community will support his presidential bid even if ANC party leader Musalia Mudavadi will be on the ballot.
“Raila values the Luhya community, and this has been demonstrated by the fact that leaders from the community occupy senior positions in ODM. Just to mention but a few, we have Wycliffe Oparanya, who is the deputy party leader, and Sifuna, who is the secretary general,” he added.
Owino faulted the bottom-up economic model being fronted by Deputy President William Ruto.
“Let money trickle from the top to the bottom. If we let money go from the bottom to the top, we will not see any development because it will be stolen,” he added.
Edited by A.N