Siaya Senator James Orengo has, for the first time, spoken on the recent cease-fire between President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition coalition, National Super Alliance (NASA) leader Raila Odinga.
Speaking while accompanying the Orange Democratic Party (ODM) boss for a funeral service in Chebai, Elgeyo Marakwet county Saturday, Orengo welcomed the move taken by the two leaders.
He, however, noted that the opposition leader deserves more credit for the statesmanship action, observing that this is the the third time he has demonstrated that he means well for all Kenyans.
"This is the third time Odinga is doing such a thing, he also did similar actions during the last two eras and is therefore not new to stepping back for the sake on the nation," said Orengo.
Odinga, on his side, observed that arriving at the decision was not easy, regarding the fact that himself and Kenyatta are the biggest political rivals in the country, a characteristic they had also passed down to their supporters.
"It was a hard decision to make. At first, I was not sure how Kenyans would receive the news but after deep consultations myself and Kenyatta decided that we have to shelve our differences because Kenya is bigger than all of us," he said.
In 2007, the former Prime Minister did an almost similar thing, dropping his presidential ambition to get into a coalition government with the then President Mwai Kibaki, in a move, he said, was aimed at stopping the bloodshed resulting from the post-election ethnic confrontations.
Odinga had rejected Kibaki's re-election citing election malpractices leading to a series of dialogues headed by former Ghanian President Koffi Annan.