Ford Kenya Party leader Moses Wetangula has challenged Azimio Presidential candidate Raila Odinga to shake hands with president-elect William Ruto for the sake of the country’s reconciliation and tranquillity.
Wetangula asked Odinga to concede defeat and put the country first given his failed attempts at the presidency five times.
“We want to advise our brother that this is not the first time you have not won an election; this is, in fact, the fifth. So, therefore, accept that things happened the way they did and shake hands with us so that we can take our country to the next level,” Wetangula said.
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Wafula Chebukati declared Ruto as the eventual winner in the just concluded polls with the Kenya Kwanza garnering 7.18 million votes (50.49 percent) against 6.94 million (48.85 percent) for his political nemesis Raila Odinga.
Odinga has since vowed to challenge the presidential results at the Supreme Court.
On the same breath the Bungoma senator noted that it would serve Odinga well to exit the political stage and accept to be a Statesman.
“We will accord him the respect he deserves as a man who has walked the length and breadth of the country playing politics. In life, it can be so near and yet so far. Unfortunately for you, my brother, it has been so near and yet so far,” he said.
With Odinga heading to the corridors of justice to challenge the presidential results, president Uhuru Kenyatta, who is yet to congratulate Ruto publicly, has committed to a smooth transition of power.
At a Thursday meeting with Kenyan religious leaders, Kenyatta “assured them that the transition will be smooth,”
The current president delivered a similar message to visiting US congressional leaders.