NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 24 – President Uhuru Kenyatta is on Wednesday expected to address the United Nations General Assembly. He is among the world leaders expected to do so in his first ever address to the Assembly since assuming office last year.
The speech which should last no more that 15 minutes will be delivered by President Kenyatta at around 11.15pm Kenyan time.
He is expected to relay Kenya’s efforts in the fight against terror as well as rally the international community to consolidate its efforts against the global challenge.
And as he did on Tuesday, he is expected to also speak on Kenya’s efforts in the clean energy sphere; UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon having identified Kenya, on a visit to the country in June, as a leader in this effort to combat climate change.
“We cannot continue to model our development on that of the first world which relied mainly on fossil fuel. Development and the environment need not be mutually exclusive. We must begin to look to clean energy sources as Kenya is doing with solar and wind farms,” Ban said.
Peace, security and climate change, especially as they relate to the post-2015 development agenda, have been identified as the main areas of debate during the UN General Assembly.
“These extremist groups pose an immediate threat to international peace and security…There can be no plan B because we don’t have planet B. The way we consume, seems to suggest that we have another planet earth. We don’t have that luxury. And leaders must set the world on a trajectory to limit global warming,” Ban said on Tuesday.
Ideally President Kenyatta should have made his first address before the UN General Assembly last year when he assumed office but he missed the Assembly on the grounds that it would have meant that he and his Deputy William Ruto be out of the country at the same time in what was largely seen to be a political statement against the International Criminal Court (ICC).
READ: Uhuru will not attend UN General Assembly
“Owing to these developments, Kenya will for the first time since our independence 50 years ago, not be represented at a political level during the High Level Week of the United Nations General Assembly,” a statement from State House at the time read.
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