President William Ruto has called on leaders to put the interests of Kenyans first before their own.
Speaking in Nairobi during the opening of Grain Bulk Handlers Limited, Ruto called on the opposition leaders to come to the negotiating table in an effort to ensure the country moves forward.
The President said the Constitution robustly provides for engagement in case the leaders have issues they want to raise.
“Our constitution robustly provides for us to engage in a constructive manner without the necessity of engaging in violent confrontations, unnecessary destruction of property, unnecessary disruptions of business,” Ruto said.
He said he believes it is only through dialogue that Kenya as a country can move forward.
“My interests, those of leaders cannot supersede the interests of the 50 million Kenyans that put us in office,” the President said.
Ruto noted that great leaders need to be measured and sensitive as they pursue their interests to ensure they do not trample on the interests of ordinary Kenyans.
“It is very necessary that there must be a balance between the interests of everybody,” he said.
“Many Kenyans who build a small business, if you organise demonstrations and that business goes up in flames you have destroyed their lives so it is important for us to know what our actions amount to so that we are careful.”
Ruto's call comes barely two days after the bipartisan team tasked with addressing issues raised by Azimio indefinitely suspended the talks.
The team suspended the talks on Tuesday after failing to agree on the membership of the team.
The two sides confirmed they have disagreed on whether Eldas MP Adan Keynan and Pokot South MP David Pkosing should continue sitting in the talks team.
Last week, President William Ruto and Azimio boss Raila Odinga's troops failed to agree on the inclusion of Keynan and Pkosing to the bipartisan team.
The Ruto camp argued that Pkosing was elected on KUP's Party which entered into a post-election deal with the ruling coalition.