NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 30- President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday started his 8th and second-last State of the Nation Address to a Joint Sitting of the Bicameral Parliament, by detailing his political journey and the lessons, a few months to the end of his second and final term.
The President said serving both in the Government side and once as an opposition leader, has taught him that “you can serve the country in any capacity.”
“It also taught me to have empathy for both sides of the Parliamentary divide.”
The President first made his entry into Kenya’s political arena in the 1997 General election, when he contested for the Gatundu South Constituency parliamentary seat.
He lost it to Moses Mwihia, who was then a Nairobi-based architect.
In 2001, the second President of Kenya Daniel Arap Moi saw him nominated as a Member of Parliament- and appointed him as the cabinet minister in charge of the Local Government.
His political star would rise further after he was elected the first vice-chairman of the Kenya African National Union (KANU).
As a nominated MP, he recalled that it is former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi who introduced him to parliament.
He also served as a Deputy Prime Minister under the coalition government between former President Mwai Kibaki and Odinga between 2008 and 2012.
He was elected fourth President of Kenya the following year in 2013, while facing crime against humanity charges at the International Criminal Court, following the 2007-2008 post-election violence.
“…Kenya is always greater than any of us,” he said.
“It is a great pleasure to return to this August House where I have had the opportunity to serve on both sides of the Parliamentary divide… I first served as a nominated MP introduced into this chamber by Hon. Raila and Mudavadi.”
The President’s term lapses next year when Kenyans will elect a new leader in August.
Odinga is seemingly the President’s preferred choice of a successor.
His Deputy William Ruto, put as a frontrunner in subsequent surveys, is also seeking to replace President Kenyatta.
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