The deal is meant to deepen a working tie between the two nations/FILE
Speaking after signing the agreement, The National Alliance (TNA) party national chairman Johnson Sakaja said the engagement discussed a wide range of issues of mutual interest touching on regional co-operation and development of the East African Community (EAC).
“We hope that even as we sign with others within the EAC and other countries within Africa we can form a strong political force to advance our Pan-African agenda and also to benefit our different political parties within our home countries,” Sakaja underscored.
The deal is meant to deepen a working tie between the two nations.
He added; “As parties, being the breeding ground of policy that influence the Government, we need to work together so that we can have common positions especially at regional and continental levels.”
The Jubilee Alliance is a four-party coalition established to support the joint presidential election ticket of Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto in the 2013 Kenya polls. Its members are TNA which is led by President- elect Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto’s United Republican Party (URP), Charity Ngilu’s National Alliance Rainbow Coalition (NARC) and Republican Congress led by Najib Balala.
URP chairman Francis Ole Kaparo revealed that after CNDD-FDD, the Uhuru Kenyatta led coalition would be signing partnership agreement with other East African parties including Tanzania’s Chama Cha Mzalendo (CCM).
“The trend has been Kenyan political parties look to parties outside the continent for patronage but we as a continent are of age now. This act demonstrates, that there is and will always be a very important exchange of ideas and experiences that will accrue from a partnership of African political parties,” the former Speaker of the National Assembly remarked.
Kaparo also sort to play down skeptism surrounding the duration of the budding coalition between Kenyatta and Ruto who were declared winners of the March 4 polls.
“This is a coalition based on law and is founded on mutual interest and we look forward setting an example of how coalitions can work,” he spelt out.
CNDD-FDD President Pascal Nyabenda said it is important for African citizens to discuss how the region could tackle its own problems instead of running to the international community.
“We have so many things to learn from Kenyans. Kenya is a big and rich country economically whereas in Burundi, we have been fighting for a long time now but we are trying to reconstruct our country. As parties we need to support each other,” the CNDD-FDD leader maintained.
Burundi and Tanzania are among several neighboring countries that Kenyatta paid a visit to prior to the March 4 elections.
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