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Endless politics bad for growth, Kenyatta says during Chatham address

The President says it is time for political leaders to embrace dialogue after the often strenuous and emotive political seasons, which usually leave the stability of a country shaken/PSCU

NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 18 – President Uhuru Kenyatta has blamed divisive politics for sluggish growth within the African continent.

The President says it is time for political leaders to embrace dialogue after the often strenuous and emotive political seasons, which usually leave the stability of a country shaken.

Speaking at Chatham House in the United Kingdom at an event titled ‘Kenya’s Priorities for Inclusive Growth: Towards Domestic Development and Regional Peace’, the President said he had already set the pace, by reaching out on the opposition chief Raila Odinga.

“In a time like this, we leaders must seek stability while at the same time undertaking ambitious efforts to shape a future that responds to the needs of our people. That is the challenge of governing today, on every continent. To know what needs stabilizing, and what must be changed,” the President said.

He challenged his counterparts in the African continent and the world to put the interests of their people first, even as they compete for political positions, duels that have left many states unstable.

“I believe we need to face this tendency together. First by understanding that positive change is difficult to enact in a climate of permanent political instability. Yet knowing that stability should not itself be an excuse to remain rigid and resistant to change.

Mainstream politics, in Kenya, in Britain and everywhere else in the democratic world, must be responsive to the needs of the people. My reaching out to the Hon Raila Odinga and the opposition must be seen in this context and not one of opening a new political front,” he said.

Kenya and the world, President Kenyatta said, “cannot achieve the social and economic needs of our people in an environment of constant political bickering. As much as political competition is an essential component of democracy. Leadership on all sides of the political divide must rise above the noise and focus on the needs of the people.”

This, he said is the difference between the politics of democracy and mature democracies that can rise above competitive electoral politics to issue based politics.

President Kenyatta cautioned that there are too many risks and pitfalls in today’s world, “ without us adding to them with meaningless political rhetoric.”

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He is the first Kenyan President to issue an address at the Chatham House.

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