President Uhuru Kenyatta has publicly spoken about his dramatic handshake with opposition supremo Raila Odinga that took the nation by surprise.
Addressing a packed auditorium at Chatham House in the United Kingdom on Tuesday, the president said that the handshake was aimed at easing political tensions in the country and not designed to open news political fronts ahead of 2022.
''Mainstream politics in Kenya, in Britain and elsewhere else in the democratic world in the world must be responsive to the needs of the people. My reaching out to honourable Raila Odinga and the opposition after the elections must be seen in this context and not one of opening up a new political front. We cannot achieve the social and economic needs of our people in an environment of constant political bickering,'' the president said.
This is the first time the president has spoken more clearly about the motivation behind his reaching out to his arch-nemesis Raila Odinga after a hard-fought presidential election.
The gesture has to a large extent helped dissipate the tensions and uncertainty that had gripped the country.